//.  / . 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.     N.    J. 

Presented  by 

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A 


COMMENTARY 


ON    THE 


HOLY    SCRIPTURES: 

CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND  HOMILETICAL 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  MINISTERS  AND  STUDENT8 

BT 

JOHN   PETER* LANGE,  D.  D., 

ORDINARY  PBOTXBSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  BONN, 
or  aowwunoK  with  a  kumbkb  or  eminent  eckopean  divotm 

TRANSLATED,    ENLARGED,   AND  EDITED 


PHILIP   SCHAFF,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR   OP  THEOLOGY   IN  THE  UNION   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.   NEW   YORK, 
ia   oomntCTiON    with    amebioax    scholars   or    vabious    bvanoelical    DENOMINATION. 


VOt.miE  XIV.  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT:  CONTAINING  THE  MINOR  PROPHETS 


.NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

1899 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/bookofhaggai1411mccu 


THE 


MINOR  PROPHETS 


KXEGETICALLY,  THEOLOGICALLY.   AND   HOMILETICALLY 


EXPOUNDED 


PATTL    KLEINERT,   OTTO    SCHMOLLER, 

GEORGE   R.  BLISS,  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBERS,   CHARLES  ELLICTT, 

JOHN   FORSYTH,  J.  FREDERICK   Mc CURDY,   AND 

JOSEPH    PACKARD. 


EDITED  BY 

PHILIP   SOHAFF,  D.  D. 


NEW   YORK: 
CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S     SONS, 

1899 


Altered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  vear  1874,  Or 

Scribner,  Armstrong,  and  Compant, 
n  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Trow's 
Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 
205-213   East  12th  St., 

NEW    YORK. 


PREFACE  BY  THE   GENERAL  EDITOR 


The  volume  on  the  Minor  Prophets  is  partly  in  advance  of  the  German  original, 
which  has  not  yet  reached  the  three  post-exilian  Prophets.  The  commentaries  on  the  nine 
earlier  Prophets  by  Professors  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  appeared  in  separate  number! 
some  time  ago * ;  but  for  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi,  Dr.  Lange  has  not,  to  this  date, 
been  able  to  secure  a  suitable  co-laborer.2  With  his  cordial  approval  I  deem  it  better  to 
complete  the  volume  by  original  commentaries  than  indefinitely  to  postpone  the  publication. 
They  were  prepared  by  sound  and  able  scholars,  in  conformity  with  the  plan  of  the  whole 
work. 

The  volume  accordingly  contains  the  following  parts,  each  one  being  paged  separately :  — 

1.  A  General  Introduction  to  the  Prophets,  especially  the  Minor  Prophets,  by 
Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  The 
general  introductions  of  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  are  too  brief  and  incomplete  for  our  purpose, 
and  therefore  I  requested  Dr.  Elliott  to  prepare  an  independent  essay  on  the  subject. 

2.  Hosea.  By  Rev.  Dr.  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  from  the  German  and  en- 
larged by  James  Frederick  Mc Curdy,  M.  A.,  of  Princeton,  N.  J. 

3.  Joel.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  John  Forsyth, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ethics  and  Law  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y. 

4.  Amos.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  Talbot  W 
Chambers,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 

5.  Obadiah.  By  Rev.  Paul  Kleinert,  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Theology  in  the 
University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  George  R.  Bliss,  D.  D.,  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Lewisburg,  Pennsylvania. 

6.  Jonah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  the  University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  en- 
larged by  Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago.8 

7.  Micah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  George  R.  Bliss,  of  Lewie* 
burg. 

8.  Nahum.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  Charles  Elliott,  of 
Chicago. 

9.  Habakkuk.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

1  Obadjah,  Jonah,  Mieha,  Nahum,  Habakuk,  Zephanja/i.  Wissenshqftlich  undfilr  den  Oebraueh  der  Kirehe  ausgelegt  txm 
PAUL  Kleinebt,  Pfarrer  zu  St.  Gertraud  und  a.  Professor  an  der  Universitdt  zu  Berlin.  Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig,  1868.  —  Die 
Propheten  Hosea,  Joel  und  Amos.  Theologiaeh-homiletisch  bearbeitet  von  Ono  Sohmollsb,  Lieent.  der  Theologie,  Diaconus 
m  Vrack.  Bielef.  und  Leipzig,  1872. 

a  The  commentary  of  Rev.  W.  Prbssbl  on  these  three  Propheta  (Die  naehtxilisehen  Propheten,  Gotha,  1870)  w»J 
originally  prepared  for  Lange's  Bible-work,  but  was  rejected  by  Dr.  Lange  mainly  on  account  of  Pressel's  views  on  :h* 
genuineness  and  integrity  of  Zechariah.  It  was,  however,  independently  published,  and  was  made  use  of,  like  other 
commentaries,  by  the  authors  of  the  respective  sections  in  this  volume. 

8  Dr.  Elliott  desires  to  render  his  acknowledgments  to  the  Rev.  Reuben  Dederick,  of  Chicago,  and  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Lotke,  of  Faribault,  Minnesota,  for  valuable  assistance  in  translating  some  difficult  passages  in  Kleinerfl  Commentanea 
*n  Jonah,  Nahum,  and  Habakkuk. 


PREFACE   BY   THE   GENERAL  EDITOR. 


10.  Zephaniah.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

11.  Haggai.     By  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

12.  Zechariah  By  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  New  York.  (See  special 
preface.) 

18.  Malachi.  By  Rev.  Joseph  Packard,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

The  contributors  to  this  volume  were  directed  carefully  to  consult  the  entire  ancient  and 
modern  literature  on  the  Minor  Prophets  and  to  enrich  it  with  the  latest  results  of  German 
and  Anglo-American  scholarship. 

The  remaining  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  all  under  way,  and  will  be  published  ai 
fast  as  the  nature  of  the  work  will  permit. 

PHILIP   SCHAFF. 

Ubtoh  THaoLoarou   Sbmwaii,  Nnr  You.  .ir.-Mtry,  1874. 


THE 


BOOK    OF    HAGGAI. 


EXPOUNDED 


• 

JAMES  FREDERICK  M°CURDY 

BUniUOTOa   IN   ORIENTAL   LANGCAOKS,  THEOLOGICAL  9KMINARY,  PRINCWOR,  W.  2 


NEW  YORK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS. 


f&atered  according  »«  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1374,  b , 

Sckibner,  Armstrong,  and  Company. 

x  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington 


THE   PROPHECIES   OF  HAGGAI. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.  Person  of  the  Prophet. 


The  name  Haggai  C*an,  LXX.,  'Ayyaios,  Vulg.,  Aggozus)  is,  in  the  Old  Testament, 
borne  only  by  our  Prophet.  It  is  usually  held  to  mean  Festive,  from  yn,  a  feast,  with  the 
adjectival  suffix  *7"  for  "»—  (Green,  Heb.  Gram.,  §  194  b;  Ewald,1  §  164  c).  Other  explanju 
tions  are  :  My  Feast ;  Feast  of  Jehovah  ;  but  these  are  less  tenable.2 

All  that  we  certainly  know  of  the  personal  history  of  Haggai  is  gathered  from  a  com- 
parison of  chaps,  i.  1 ;  ii.  1,  10,  20  of  his  Prophecy,  with  Ezra  v.  1  ;  vi.  14.     These  notice* 
do  not  throw  any  light  upon  his  private  life  or  circumstances,  but  merely  indicate  the  occa- 
sions of  his  official  action.    They  inform  us  that  he  began  his  prophetic  career  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius  Hystaspes  (b.  c.  520),  and  that  his  discourses  bore  chiefly  upon  the  erection 
of  the  Second  Temple.     His  recorded  public  addresses  cover  a  period  of  about  four  months, 
during  the  latter  half  of  which  he  enjoyed  the  cooperation  of  Zechariah  (comp.  Zech.  i.  1). 
We  do  not  even  know  whether  he  was  a  native  of  Judasa  or  of  Babylon,  whether  he  was 
orn  before  or  during  the  Exile.     Ewald  has  inferred  from  chap.  ii.  3  that  he  had  beheld 
-e  First  Temple ;  but  this  is  not  necessarily  implied  in  the  passage.    If  he  was  born  before 
^e  Captivity  he  must  have  been  at  least  nearly  seventy  years  old  when  he  entered  upon  his 
linistry.8 

We  have,  in  the  patristic   age,  statements  by  Pseudo-Dorotheus  and   Pseudo-Epiphanius 
each  of  whom  composed  a  history  of  the  lives  of  the  prophets),  to  the  effect  that  Haggai 
eturned  to  Jerusalem  along  with  the  other  exiles,  being  then  still  a  young  man ;  that  he 
urvived  the  completion  of  the  Temple  (b.  c.  516),  and  was  interred  with  priestly  honors 
close  to  the  burial-place  of  the  Priests.     We  know  of  nothing  to  disprove  these  assertions ; 
but  neither  have  we  any  evidence  in  their  favor,  and  so  many  improbable  accounts  of  the 
Prophets  were  in  circulation   both  among  the  later  Jews  and  the  early  Christians,  that  all 
unsupported  extra-biblical   statements   concerning  them  must  be   regarded  with  suspicion. 
A  notion  had  even  gained  currency  in  the  time  of  Jerome  (who  thought  it  necessary  to  dis- 
prove it)  that  Haggai,  as  well  as  Malachi  and  John  the  Baptist,  were  angels  and  not  men. 
This  opinion  was  based  upon  a  misunderstanding  of  Hag.  i.  13  ;  Mai.  iii.  1  ;  Mark  i.  2. 

§  2.   Occasion  and  Aim  of  the  Prophecy. 

Haggai  was  the  earliest  of  the  Prophets  of  the  Restoration,  preceding  Zechariah  by  about 
two  months.  At  the  time  of  his  appearance,  the  offices  of  a  divine  messenger  were  greatly 
needed  among  the  Jews.  In  order  to  understand  their  situation  as  clearly  as  possible,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  recur  to  the  events  which  marked  their  history  immediately  after  their 
return  from  the  Exile.  During  this  review  we  shall  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  their  conduct 
towards  God,  their  neglect  or  fulfillment  of  their  covenant  duties  towards  Him,  mainly  deter- 

1  Grammatical  references  to  this  author  in  the  present  Commentary  are  to  his  AusfUrliches  Lekrbuch  der  Hebraischen 
Sprache,  8th  ed.,  1870.    His  exegetical  opinions  are  found  in  his  Propketen  des  alten  Bundes,  ii.,  pp.  616-522 

2  Compare  the  similar  names  in  Qen.  xlvi.  16  ;  Numb.  xxvi.  15. 

8  See  the  exegesis  of  chap.  ii.  3-  Keil,  in  animadverting  upon  Ewald's  supposition,  asserts  that  Haggai  must  hay* 
Deen  at  that  time  eighty  years  old.  But  this  he  himself  disproves  by  his  correct  observations  upon  the  passage  itself 
Ln  am  Introduc'ion  to  the  Old  Testament  (i.,  p.  420,  Engl,  translation),  he  had  favored  the  conjecture  of  Ewald. 


I  HAGGAI. 

mined  their  temporal  and  spiritual  condition,  as  well  as  the  matter  and  tone  of  the  prophetic 
communications. 

The  first  religious  acts  of  the  little  colony  promised  favorably  enough.  After  reinstituting 
the  observance  of  the  legal  festivals  in  the  seventh  month  (the  month  of  feasts)  of  the  first 
year  of  their  return,  which  was  also  the  first  of  the  sole  reign  of  Cyrus,  they  proceeded  to 
hire  workmen  and  purchase  building  material,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Second  Temple 
in  the  second  month  of  the  second  year,  B.  c.  535.  But  even  on  this  joyful  occasion  there 
were  indications  of  a  feeling  of  despondency  among  those  who  had  beheld  the  First  Temple 
in  its  superior  outward  beauty  (Ezra  iii.  12,  13),  a  feeling  which  seems  to  have  been  soon 
communicated  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  and  to  have  contributed  to  that  neglect  of  the  Tern 
pie  which  the  Prophet  afterwards  rebuked.  The  same  symptom  at  all  events  reappeared  even 
after  the  work  of  building  had  been  more  energetically  resumed,  for  it  was  this  that  called  forth 
his  third  address  (chap.  ii.  1-9).  This  point  deserves  attention  here,  for  if  we  compare  our 
Prophet's  discourses  with  the  Book  of  Ezra,  we  shall  find  that  the  delay  in  the  great  work 
was  due  no  less  to  the  unfaithfulness  and  faint-heartedness  of  the  people  than  to  the  machi- 
nations of  their  enemies.  It  was  not  long  before  the  latter  cause  began  to  operate.  The 
Samaritans,  the  heathen  nations  (Ezra  iv.  1,  9,  10),  who  had  been  planted  in  the  deserted 
tities  of  the  ten  tribes  by  Esarhaddon,  offered,  immediately  after  the  founding  of  the  Temple, 
to  form  an  alliance  with  them,  and  to  assist  them  in  their  labors,  on  the  plea  that  both  commu- 
nities  worshipped  the  same  God.  This  proposal  having  been  rejected,  they  next  employed 
counsellors  against  the  Jews  at  the  Persian  court.  Their  intrigues,  after  long  perseverance, 
seemed  to  be  at  last  quite  successful,  when,  in  reply  to  a  petition  addressed  by  them  to 
Pseudo-Smerdis  (b.  c.  522,  the  Artaxerxes  of  Ezra  iv.  7),  they  were  assured  that  the  build- 
ing of  Jerusalem  must  be  discontinued.  The  decree  of  this  usurper  was  immediately  carried 
into  effect,  and  whatever  efforts  the  Jews  might  be  inclined  to  make  in  the  way  of  complet- 
ing the  Temple  were  rendered  impossible  of  execution  during  the  remainder  of  his  reign, 
which  lasted  less  than  a  year.  But  on  the  accession  of  Darius  Hystaspes  (b.  c.  521),  who 
was  soon  found  to  be  favorable  to  his  Judaean  subjects.,  the  expostulations  and  exhortations  of 
Haggai  and  Zechariah,  as  prophets  of  Jehovah,  stirred  them  up  to  resume  and  finish  the  work. 

In  studying  the  disposition  of  the  people  during  the  interval  between  the  founding  of  the 
Temple  and  their  final  and  successful  effort  to  complete  it,  and  so  seeking  the  justification 
of  the  Prophet's  ministry,  we  can  gather  enough  from  the  Biblical  record  to  show  us  that 
they  were  in  need  of  just  such  a  method  of  treatment  as  that  which  he  adopted  towards 
them  in  his  addresses.  That  the  slow  progress  or  the  lengthened  intermissions  in  the  work 
were  not  entirely  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  Samaritans,  is  abundantly  manifest.  (1.) 
The  rescript  of  Pseudo-Smerdis  against  them  was  not  issued  until  thirteen  years  had  elapsed 
after  the  foundations  were  laid.  The  mere  intrigues  of  their  enemies  were  sufficient  to  deter 
them  from  serious,  persevering  effort.  This  shows  that  they  were  by  no  means  zealous  in 
the  cause  of  God  and  religion.  (2.)  The  reign  of  that  usurper  lasted  only  a  few  months, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  second  year  of  his  successor,  and  until  they  were  incited  by  stern 
rebuke  and  expostulation,  that  they  returned  to  their  duty,  although  it  must  have  occurred 
to  them  that  the  policy  of  the  former  monarch  would  naturally  be  opposed  by  the  latter. 
(3.)  We  learn  from  the  Prophecy  itself,  that,  during  the  period  we  are  considering,  many  of 
them  had  been  employing  their  superfluous  means  to  beautify  their  own  dwellings,  while  the 
House  of  God  was  lying  desolate,  thus  manifesting  a  selfish  disregard  of  his  superior  claims. 
(4.)  The  scantiness  of  their  harvests,  and  the  want  of  success  that  had  attended  their  labors 
generally,  are  adduced  by  the  Prophet  as  an  evidence  of  God's  displeasure,  since  under  the 
theocracy,  national  and  domestic  prosperity  or  distress  was  determined  by  obedience  or 
neglect  of  the  Divine  King.  These  calamities  therefore  proved  them  guilty  of  ignoring  his 
demands,  the  most  imperative  of  which  at  that  time  was  the  restoration  of  his  Dwelling-place. 

Such  were  the  external  circumstances  which  called  forth  the  Prophet's  discourses.  They 
indicate  sufficiently  the  immediate  object  of  his  ministry.  The  bearing  of  his  prophecies 
upon  the  interests  of  his  people  and  of  the  Church  of  God,  can  be  learnt  to  any  satisfactory 
extent  only  from  their  exposition.  At  present  a  few  remarks,  in  a  most  general  way,  will  be 
all  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  offer. 

While  it  is  characteristic  of  all  the  Prophets  of  the  Restoration  that  they  are  much  occu 
pied  with  the  Temple  in  its  relations  to  God's  kingdom,  it  is  the  distinction  of  Haggai  tha* 
all  his  discourses,  even  the  last  (chap.  ii.  20-23),  relate  more  or  less  directly  to  this  subject 
It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the  reason  of  this.     In  the  first  place,  the  Temple  wa«  the  ven 


INTRODUCTION 


oondition  of  the  national  existence.  If  the  returned  exiles  were  to  be  organized  and  to 
continue  as  a  distinct  people,  the  Temple  must  be  restored  and  sacredly  guarded.  Other 
nations  might  exist  without  such  a  palladium  ;  they  could  not.  In  the  second  place,  those 
who  were  united  by  this  common  institution  composed  the  Church  of  God,  his  covenint 
people.  The  Temple  was  his  earthly  dwelling,  where  in  united  worship  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  seek  his  covenanted  favor  and  the  bestowal  of  common  blessings,  the  place  where 
his  Presence  was  specially  displayed.  It  was  therefore  necessary  that  the  earliest  prophetic 
addresses  to  the  little  community  should  awaken  in  them  a  sense  of  the  relation  in  which 
they  stood  to  God  as  his  subjects  and  chosen  people,  and  of  the  obligation  thereby  entailed 
upon  them  to  restore  his  neglected  and  desolate  House.  Then  would  He  return  to  dwell 
with  them  (chap.  i.  14).  Then  would  they  enjoy  the  abiding  presence  of  his  Spirit  (ii.  5). 
Then,  too,  would  He  pour  forth  upon  them  perpetual  blessings  (ii.  19)  instead  of  the  merited 
chastisements  of  the  past.  Then  would  they,  as  the  objects  of  his  peculiar  care,  be  preserved 
among  the  commotions  which  should  shatter  the  surrounding  nations  (ii.  22,  23).  Thus  in 
this  aspect  of  the  Prophet's  ministry  its  grand  purpose  was  to  subserve  the  progress  of  God's 
kingdom  by  evoking  and  perpetuating  among  his  people  a  spirit  of  ready  obedience  and  love 
to  his  ordinances.  This  was  the  part  he  bore  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of 
the  Second  Temple. 

But  the  Second  Temple  was  viewed  by  the  Prophet  distinctively  in  another  aspect. 
While  inferior  to  the  first  in  outward  splendor  it  was  to  be  the  seat  of  a  more  spiritual  wor- 
ship, which  would  constitute  it  a  more  fitting  representative  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Thia 
relation  Haggai  seems  to  have  regarded  in  that  one  of  his  discourses  which  was  at  once  the 
most  cheering  to  his  cotemporaries  and  the  most  instructive  to  future  generations  (chap.  ii. 
1-9).  There  he  even  assumes  the  identity  of  the  Second  Temple  and  the  Church  of  Mes- 
sianic times,  and  describes  the  former  as  sharing  in  the  glories  of  the  latter.  He  announces 
that  the  time  is  not  far  off  when  the  privileges  of  Jehovah's  worship  shall  be  extended  over 
all  the  earth,  and  that  the  treasures  of  all  nations  will  then  be  brought  to  adorn  this  Tem- 
ple and  to  exalt  its  glory  above  the  departed  splendor  of  the  former  House,  while  peace  and 
prosperity  shall  reign  among  the  unnumbered  worshippers.  The  divine  purpose  in  this 
discourse  was,  on  the  one  hand,  to  revive  the  drooping  spirits  of  those  who  were  engaged 
upon  the  Temple,  by  revealing  to  them  the  transcendent  glory  which  should  ultimately 
crown  their  work ;  and,  on  the  other,  to  afford  to  the  feeble  and  despised  people  of  God,  but 
lately  emerged  from  their  long  captivity,  a  bright  glimpse  of  the  future  which  was  in  store 
for  them,  when  they  should  embrace  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.1 

§  3.   The  Book  of  the  Prophet  in  Matter  and  Form. 

The  Book  of  the  Prophet  Haggai  consists  of  five  addresses  delivered  to  the  Jewish  people, 
within  a  period  of  about  four  months,  in  the  second  year  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  King  of  Per- 
sia. The  first  discourse  (chap.  i.  1-11)  is  one  of  reproof,  expostulation,  and  warning,  being 
designed  to  arouse  the  people  from  their  religious  apathy,  and,  in  especial,  from  their  indiffer- 
ence to  the  condition  of  the  Temple,  which  was  then  lying  desolate.  The  second  discourse 
(contained  in  the  section  chap.  i.  12-15),  after  a  relation  of  the  beneficial  results  of  the 
first,  holds  out  to  them,  in  their  returning  obedience,  the  promise  of  God's  returning  favor 
and  of  his  aid  in  their  work.2     The  third  discourse   (chap.  ii.  1-9),  evoked  by  the  despon- 

1  If  this  were  the  proper  place  for  the  discussion,  it  might  he  interesting  to  trace  the  relations  subsisting  between 
the  several  discourses  of  the  Prophets  of  the  Restoration,  which  bear  upon  the  Temple,  e.  g. ,  how  Haggai  assumes  the 
identity  of  the  Second  Temple  and  the  Church  of  Christ,  while  Zechariah  (vi.  12,  13)  seems  to  contradict  him  by  assert- 
ing that  the  Messiah  would  Himself  build  the  Temple  of  Jehovah,  and  Malachi  resolves  into  full  harmony  these  seeming 
discords  of  the  Prophetic  lyre  by  predicting  that  Jehovah  would  come  to  his  Temple,  and  purify  the  sons  of  Levi  (iii 
1-3).     The  subject  is  worthy  of  fuller  consideration. 

2  Nearly  all  the  Commentators  regard  chap.  i.  as  comprising  but  one  discourse,  thus  making  the  whole  prophecy  to 
lonsist  of  four.  The  following  considerations  will  show  that  the  passage  chap.  i.  12-15  should  form  a  separate  divigion, 
u  containing  a  distinct  address.  (1.)  Ver.  13  seems  to  indicate  that  a  new  message  was  delivered  by  Jehovah  to  Haggai 
(2  )  As  far  as  ver.  11  the  words  of  the  Prophet  are  objurgatory,  thus  giving  a  well-defined  character  to  the  discourse. 
His  words  in  ver.  13  express  approval  and  convey  encouragement,  they  must  therefore  form  the  subject  of  a  distinct  mes. 
«ge.  The  reason  of  the  contrast  is  obvious.  A  complete  change  (described  in  ver.  12)  had  been  effected  in  the  dispose 
don  of  the  people.  Before  they  had  been  apathetic  and  careless.  But  now  the  rebukes  and  denunciations  of  the  Prophet 
iud  excited  in  them  that  true  fear  of  God  whose  earliest  fruit  is  repentance  (comp.  ver.  14).  Hence  he  was  commissioned 
to  assure  them  of  God's  renewed  favor.  The  brevity  of  the  message  as  recorded,  is  accounted  for  on  the  assumption 
(probable  upon  all  grounds)  that  Haggai,  in  accordance  with  the  general  usage  of  the  Prophets,  has  given  us  a  mere  out 
line  of  his  address.  It  is  generally  held  that  vers.  12-15  are  intended  merely  to  set  forth  the  effects  of  the  first  message 
But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  aim  of  the  Prophet  was  not  to  write  history,  and  that  when  he  appears  to  be  n« 
-»tinp ,  hf  is  simply  showing  the  occasions  of  his  discourses,  whose  delivery  was  the  sole  object  of  his  mission 


r»  liAGGAI. 

dency  that  had  begun  to  affect  some  of  the  people,  on  account  of  the  outward  inferior^ 
of  the  present  temple,  predicts  for  it  a  glory  far  transcending  that  of  its  predecessor,  sine* 
the  treasures  of  all  nations  were  yet  to  adorn  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  of  which  it  was 
the  representative.  The  fourth  discourse  (chap.  ii.  10-19),  teaches  them,  from  the  princi 
pies  of  the  Ceremonial  Law,  that  no  amount  of  outward  religious  observance  can  commu 
nicate  holiness,  or  secure  acceptance  with  God  and  the  restoration  of  his  favor,  the  with 
drawal  of  which  had  been  so  manifest  in  their  late  public  and  private  distress.  The  fift\ 
discourse  assures  the  struggling  community  of  their  preservation  in  the  midst  of  commo- 
tions which  should  destroy  other  nations,  promising  to  its  faithful  rulers,  represented  by 
Zerubbabel,  the  special  protection  of  their  Covenant  God. 

These  outlines  of  his  addresses  the  Prophet  has  arranged  in  regular  chronological  order 
carefully  indicating  the  dates  of  their  respective  delivery.  They  are  presented  in  a  style, 
which,  though  lacking  the  poetical  qualities  of  many  of  the  earlier  prophecies,  is  yet  marked  in 
various  passages  by  great  vivacity  and  impressiveness,  to  which,  among  other  characteristics, 
the  frequent  use  of  interrogation  (e.  g.,  in  chaps,  i.  4,  9  ;  ii.  3,  12,  13,  19)  largely  contrib- 
utes. A  striking  peculiarity  of  the  Prophet's  style  has  been  remarked  in  his  habit  of  "  utter- 
ing the  main  thought  with  concise  and  nervous  brevity,  after  a  long  and  verbose  introduc- 
tion "  (comp.  chaps,  i.  2 ;  i.  12  ;  ii.  5;  ii.  19).  In  addition  to  these  more  obvious  character- 
istics, we  can  discern  both  rhetorical  and  grammatical  peculiarities  natural  to  the  declining 
period  of  the  Hebrew  language  and  literature.  Of  the  former  class  is,  for  example,  the  fre- 
quent recurrence  of  favorite  phrases :  of  the  latter  are  such  anomalous  constructions  as  are 
found  in  chaps,  i.  4,  6,  8,  9  ;  ii.  3,  15,  16,  18,  to  the  critical  discussion  of  which  the  reader 
is  referred  for  fuller  explanation. 

§  4.  Special  Works  upon  Haggai  or  upon  the  Prophets  of  the  Restoration  as  a  whole. 

J.  P.  Clinton,  Comm.  upon  Haggai,  London,  1560 ;  J.  Pilkington,  An  Exposition  upon  the 
Prophet  Aggeus,  London,  1560 ;  J.  Mercerus  (or  Mercier),  Scholia  et  Versio  ad  Prophetiam 
Haggozi,  Paris,  1581  ;  J.  J.  Grynaeus,  Comm.  in  Haggazum,  Geneva,  1581  (translated  into  En- 
glish by  Chr.  Featherstone,  London,  1586)  ;  Fr.  Baldwin,  Comm.  in  Hagg.,  Zach.,  et  Mai., 
Wittenberg,  1610  ;  B.  Willius,  Prophet  a:  Hagg.,  Zach.,  Malach.,  Commentario  Illustrati,  Bre- 
men, 1638;  Aug.  Varenius,  Trifolium  Propheticum.  seu  Tres  Posteriores  Prophetaz,  scil.  Hagg. 
Zach.,  et  Mai.,  Explicati,  Rostock,  1662,  and  Exercitatiunes  Duos  in  Proph.  Hagg.,  Rostock, 
1648;  Andr.  Reinbeck,  Exercitaliones  in  Proph.  Hagg.,  Brunswick,  1692;  Dan.  Pfeffinger, 
Notoz  in  Proph.  Hagg.,  Strassburg,  1703;  Francis  Woken,  Annotationes  Exegeticai  in  Proph. 
Hagg.,  Leipzig,  1719  ;  J.  G.  Scheibel,  Observationes  Critical  et  Exegeticos  ad  Vaticinia  Haggai 
cum  Prologomenis,  Wratislaw,  1822 ;  T.  V.  Moore,  The  Prophets  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and 
Malachi,  a  New  Translation,  with  Notes,  New  York,  1856  ;  Aug.  Kbhler,  Die  Weissagungen 
Haggai' s  erkldrt,  Erlangen,  1860.  W.  Pressel,  Commentar  zu  den  Schriften  der  Propheten 
Haggai,  Sacharja  und  Malachi,  Gotha,  1870. 

For  Commentaries  upon  the  Minor  Prophets  which  include  Haggai,  see  the  General  Intro- 
duction to  this  volume. 

The  Messianic  passage  in  Haggai  (chap.  ii.  6-9)  is  discussed  by  the  following  writers : 
Wm.  Harris,  Discourses  on  the  Principal  Representations  of  the  Messiah  in  the  Old  Testament, 
Lond.,  1724  ;  Bp.  Chandler,  Defence  of  Christianity,  from  the  Prophecies  of  the  Old  Test., 
Lond.,  1725,  pp.  71-84;  J.  H.  Verschuir,  In  Hagg.  ii.  6-9,  Franecker,  1760,  reprinted  in  his 
Dissertationes  Philol.-exeget.,  1773;  Deyling,  Observationes  Sacros,  Part  iii.  §18  :  Gloria  Tem- 
vli  Poster ton's ;  Hengstenberg,  Christology,  iii.,  pp.  265-295  (2ded.  Engl.  Transl.)  ;  Hofmann, 
Weissagung  und  Erfullung,  vol.  i.,  pp.  330  ff. ;  Tholuck,  Die  Propheten  und  ihre  T#u«sa« 
gungen,  p.  156  ;  J.  P.  Smith,  Scripture  Testimony  to  the  Messiah  (5th  ed.),  i.,  pp   28S  ff. 


THE   BOOK  OF   THE   PROPHET  HAGGAI. 


FIRST   ADDRESS. 

Rebuke  and  Expostulation  of  the  People  for  their  Neglect  of  the  Temple. 

Chapter  I.  1-11. 

1  In  the  second  year  of  Darius 1  the  king,  in  the  sixth  month,  in  the  first  day  of 
the  month,  there  was  a  word  of  Jehovah,  by  the  hand  of  Haggai  the  Prophet,  to 
Zerubbabel,'2  son  of  Shealtiel,  governor  3  of  Judah,  and  to  Joshua,  son  of  Josadak, 

2  the  High  Priest,  saying :  Thus  speaketh  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  saying :  This  people 

3  say,  It  is  not  the  time  to  come,4  the  time  for  the  House  of  Jehovah  to  be  built.   And 

4  a  word  of  Jehovah  was  by  the  hand  of  Haggai  the  Prophet,  saying :  Is  it  the  time 
for  you  yourselves  5  to  dwell  in  wainscoted 6  houses,  and  this  House  lying  waste  ? 

5,  6  But  come !  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  set  your  heart  upon  your  ways.  Ye  have 
been  sowing  much  and  bringing  in  little ;  eating,  and  it  was  not  to  satisfaction  ; 
drinking,  and  it  was  not  to  fullness  ; 7  clothing  yourselves,  and  it  was  not  to  any 
one's  being  warm  ; 8  and  he  who  has  been  earning  wages  has  been  earning  them  into 

7,  8  a  torn  purse.9    Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts,  Set  your  heart  upon  your  ways.     Go 

up  to  the  mountain  and  bring  wood  and  build  the  House,  and  I  will  take  pleasure  in 

9  it,  and  will  be  honored,10  saith  Jehovah.     Ye  have  kept  looking  for  much,11  and  lo 

(it  came)  to  little  ! 12  and  ye  brought  it  home  and  I  blew  upon  it.    Because  of  what  ? ia 

saith  Jehovah.    Because  of  my  House  which  is  desolate,  while  ye  are  running  each 

10  to  his  own  house.     Therefore  above  you  have  the  heavens  restrained  themselves 

11  from  dew,  and  the  earth  has  restrained  her  increase.  And  I  invoked  desolation 
upon  the  earth  and  upon  the  mountains,  and  upon  the  corn,  and  upon  the  new- 
made  wine,  and  upon  the  oil,  and  upon  all  that  the  soil  produces,  and  upon  man 
and  upon  beast,  and  upon  all  the  labor  of  (men's)  hands. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  1.  —  K7YHT1?.      Some  MSS.  of  Hagg.,  Zech.,  Dan.,  and  Ezra  read    tCVH^T   (Doryavesh),  and   others, 

VT  :  IT  :  •*T  !  T 

ttJVT7?.  The  correctness  of  the  common  reading  is  established  by  the  forms  Daryavush,  and  Darayavush,  found  in  the 
Cuneiform  Inscriptions.  The  name  is  usually  held  to  be  derived  from  the  Zendic  dar,  to  preserve,  Sanskrit  d/iar,  the 
normal  and  root  form  of  the  verb  dhri.  The  explanation  of  Herodotus  (vi.  98),  epfei7|s>  coercitor,  conservator,  is  therefore 
probably  correct. 

2  Ver.  1.  —  b^TT  ia  a  name  derived  from  Vpf  and  ^33  (Dispersed  to  Babylon),  or  from  V^Ht.  and  ,  33 
(Begotteu  in  Babyion).'  '  As  Zerubbabel  was  probably  born  during  tbe  Exile,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  which  is  the 
correct  explanation.     Either  etymology  would  of  course  account  for  the  doubling  of  the  first  Beth.     Ayin  is  dropped 

in  the  name  bSfiEti?,  from   3^Qtt7  and  *TS. 

3  Ver.  1.  —  nnG.  The  derivation  of  this  word  cannot  be  said  to  be  yet  setUed-  The  commonly  received  etymology 
(suggested  by  Benfey )  from  the  Sanskrit  paksha,  a  companion  (of  the  king),  from  which  the  modern  term  pasha  is  alto 
supposed  to  be  derived,  is  disputed  by  Spiegel,  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  the  word  is  not  found  in  the  Eranian  lan- 
guages. He  proposes  to  derive  from  the  form  pavan,  from  pa,  to  defend,  which  occurs  in  Zend  and  Sanskrit  at  the  end  ol 
oompounds  (e.  g.,  khsatrapavan,  satrap,  a  defender  of  the  kingdom),  and  in  the  Avesta  as  a  separate  word  in  the  oo»- 
*»oted  form  pavan.     He  then  conjectures  a  dialectic  variation,  pagvan,  to  account  more  naturally  for  our  word. 

4  Ver.  2.—  S3VI1?  b^b.  The  only  plausible  defense  for  reading  S3,  and  rendering:  the  time  has  not  come,  M 
ill  the  ancient  translators  have  done,  as  well  as  most  of  the  English  and  early  Continental  expositors,  is  that  according 
a  the  received  reading  the  infinitive  would  be  written  defectively.  This,  however,  is  quite  common  (comp.  Ex.  ii.  18 ; 
Lev.  xiv.  48  ;  Num.  xxxii.  9  ;  1  Kings  xiv.  28  ;  Is.  xx.  1).  Moore  and  Henderson  retain  the  inf.  and  yet  give  the  abort 
translation     This  can  be  assumed  as  correct  only  on  the  supposition  that  the  inf.  is  used  absolutely  as  equivalent  to  t 


8 


HAGGAI. 


Suite  Terb.  The  position,  however,  that  such  a  construction  can  be  adopted  when  no  finite  verb  precedes  in  the  sen 
tence,  is  very  precarious,  really  resting  only  upon  Ezek.  i.  14  (comp.  Green,  Heb.  Gr.,  §  268,  1  a,  and  Ewald,  §  280  o) 
But  there  is  not  the  least  necessity  of  resorting  to  it  ;  for  the  translation  here  adopted,  and  held  by  most  of  the  recent 
German  expositors,  is  quite  natural  and  agreeable  to  the  context.  For  the  construction  of  the  last  clause  of  the  verse, 
Me  Greeu,  §  267  b ;  Ewald,  §  237  c. 

4  Ver.   4.  —  D£1S.     Ou  this  emphatic  repetition  of  the  pers.  pronoun,  see  Ewald,  §  105  /.,  and  comp.   Jer.  ii.  31. 

*  Ver.  4.  —  C>j-lDp.  This  is  one  of  the  rare  cases  in  which  an  adjective  qualifying  a  definite  substantive  is  withouf 
iae  article. 

7  Ver.  6.  —  The  absol.  inf.  being  properly  a  verbal  noun,  S2H,  71DS,  etc.,  depend  upon  CJ-lp^T,  and  are  deter- 
mined in  sense  by  it;  see  Green,  §  268,  1.     The  literal  translation  therefore  is:  Ye  have  sown  much,  and  {theie  wag] 

•  bringing  in  of  little,  etc. 

8  Ver.  6.  —  The  impersonal  force  of  the  absol.  inf.  above  suggested  by  the  employment  in  the  last  clause  but  one  ol 

*t^  instead  of  DD7,  which  would  be  naturally  expected  ;  literally  :  there  was  aclothing  (of  one's  self),  and  it  was  not  fei 

•  warming  to  him. 

9  Ver.  6.  — In  the  last  clause  we  have  a  pregnant  construction  :  earns  wages  (and  puts  them)  into  a  purse  with  holes. 

10  Ver.  8.  —  The  keri  is  mZ33S1,  which  is  also  found  in  some  MSS  in  Kennicott.  The  He  paragogic  in  the  "  vol- 
untative  "  future  occurs  regularly  in  sentences  denoting  a  consequence  (Ewald,  8  347  a.).  But  it  is  sometimes  absent 
(comp.  Zech.  i.  3  with  Mai.  iii.  7).    Its  omission  in  rTJSnSI  decides  nothing,  since  it  is  appended  but  very  rarely  to  H  7 

verbs  (Green,  §  172,  3  ;  Ewald,  §  228  c).  The  letter  r!  representing  the  number  five,  its  omission  here  has  been  re. 
garded  by  later  Talmudists  as  betokening  that  the  Second  Temple  was  deprived  of  the  five  following  things  :  (1)  The  Ark 
of  the  Covenant  with  the  Mercy  Seat  and  the  Cherubim  ;  (2)  The  Sacred  Fire ;  (3)  The  Shekinah  ;  (4)  The  Holy  Spirit ; 
(5)  The  Urim  and  Thummim. 

11  Ver.  9.  —  !"73Q .  The  inf.  abs.  occurs  here  without  any  finite  verb  preceding,  unlike  the  construction  in  ver.  6.  Set 
the  grammatical  remarks  upon  that  verse.  It  is  therefore  strictly  a  verbal  noun  :  (there  was)  a  looking  for  much,  etc 
Such  a  mode  of  expression  often  indicates  a  certain  degree  of  emotion,  "  after  the  utterance  of  which  the  ordinary  man- 
ner of  speaking  is  easily  resumed  "  (Ewald,  §  328  b).    Accordingly  a  finite  verb,   DnS3H,  is  found  in  the  next  clause 

13  Ver.  9.  —  Before  t217J3  V  some  such  verb  as  i~Pn  is  to  be  understood:  (it  came)  to  little. 
t   :     •  TT 

18  Ver.  9.  —  HP  ]V^»  Ta*s  ^  one  of  tne  numerous  cases  cited  by  Ewald  (§  1826),  in  which  HP  occurs  for 
nCj  without  any  assignable  cause.  Kohler  suggests  that  the  analogy  of  HS3,  7"tp3,  7112  IV  might  possibly 
tzplain  the  change  as  being  occasioned  by  a  preceding  preposition  The  laws  of  Hebrew  vocalization  are,  however,  de- 
termined by  the  form  and  not  by  the  meaning  of  words,  and  the  existence  of  such  anomalies  as  V*lp  7112  (1  Sam.  iv. 
1*))    t£5872    T172  (2  Kings  ii.  7),  would  seem  to  show  that  further  investigation  would  be  hopeless. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  1.  In  the  second  year  of  Darius  the 
King,  in  the  sixth  month,  on  the  first  day  of 
the  month.  The  dates  affixed  to  the  prophecies 
generaUy  contemplate  the  perpetuation  of  the  sev- 
eral books  and  the  requirements  of  readers  in  all 
succeeding  time.  Haggai  indicates  with  special 
care  the  precise  date  of  the  delivery  of  each  of  his 
messages.  In  accordance  with  the  practice  neces- 
sarily adopted  by  the  Old  Testament  writers  after 
the  people  of  God  were  subjected  by  heathen  pow- 
ers, the  year  of  his  prophecies  is  reckoned  from 
the  accession  of  the  king  to  whom  the  Jews  were 
then  subject.  The  Darius  here  mentioned  is  Da- 
rius Hystaspes,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  Persia 
b.  c.  521,  and  whose  treatment  of  his  Jewish  sub- 
jects is  recorded  in  Ezra  iv.  24-vi.  22.  That  it 
could  not  have  been  Darius  Nothus  (b.  C.  423),  as 
J.  J.  Scaliger  and  a  few  others  have  maintained, 
appears  plainly  from  ch.  ii.  3,  where  our  Prophet, 
according  to  the  only  natural  interpretation  of  the 
verse,  addresses  those  who  had  beheld  the  First 
Temple,  which  was  destroyed  b.  c.  588.  The 
month  is  named  according  to  the  sacred  order  in 
the  Jewish  year  (comp.  Zech.  i.  7  ;  vii.  1  ;  viii.  19). 
The  sixth  month  is  Elul,  answering  nearly  to  our 
September,  or,  more  strictly,  extending  from  the 
lixth  to  the  seventh  new  moon  of  the  year.  The 
6rst  daj  of  the  month  was  specially  suitable  for 
che  delivery  of  the  Prophet's  message,  as  being  the 
feast-day  of  the  New  Moon,  when  he  would  he 


more  likely  to  attract  attention  (Hengstenberg). 
There  was  a  word  of  the  Lord  by  the  hand  of 
Haggai  the  Prophet.  The  "  word  of  the  Lord," 
as  always  in  the  Prophets,  indicates  a  freedom 
from  all  human  admixture ;   while  the  expression, 

"fl2s  intimates  that  the  Prophet  himself  was  mere- 
ly a  medium  of  communication,  the  word  simply 
passing  through  his  hands.  On  the  name  and  per- 
son of  the  Prophet  see  Introd.  §  1 .  To  Zerub- 
babel, son  of  Shealtiel,  Governor  of  Judah, 
and  to  Joshua,  son  of  Josadak,  the  High  Priest. 
Zerubbabel  is  called  in  Ezra  i.  8  ;  v.  14  by  his  Per 
sian  name  Sheshbazzar  (of  uncertain  origin).  Ir 
1  Chron.  iii.  17,  Shealtiel  appears  as  a  son  of  Assu 
and  grandson  of  Jeconiah  (Jehoiachin).  Accord 
ing  to  1  Chron.  iii.  19,  Zerubbabel  was  a  son  of 
Pedaiah,  a  brother  of  Shealtiel.  According  to 
Luke  iii.  27,  Shealtiel  was  a  son  of  Neri,  a  de- 
scendant of  David  through  his  son  Nathan.  The 
best  method  of  harmonizing  these  statements  is 
that  adopted  by  Koehler  and  Keil.  The  latter  says  : 
"  These  three  divergent  accounts  may  be  brought 
into  agreement  by  means  of  the  following  combi- 
nations, if  we  keep  in  mind  the  prophecy  of  Jere- 
miah (xxii.  30),  that  Jeconiah  would  be  childless 
and  not  be  blessed  with  seeing  one  of  his  seed  sit- 
ting upon  the  throne  of  David  and  ruling  over 
Judah.  This  prophecy  was  fulfilled  according  to 
Luke's  genealogical  table,  inasmuch  as  Shealtiel'i 
father  there  is  not  Assir  or  Jeconiah,  a  descendant 
of  David  in  the  line  of  Solomon,  but  Neri,  a  d» 
scendant  of  David's  son  Nathan.    It  follows  fher» 


CHAPTER  I.  1-11. 


fore  that  neither  of  the  sons  of  Jeconiah  mentioned 
in  1  Chron.  iii.  17,  18  (Zedekiah  and  Assir),  had  a 
son,  but  that  the  latter  had  only  a  daughter,  who 
married  a  man  of  the  family  of  her  father's  tribe, 
according  to  the  law  of  heiresses  (Num.  xxvii.  8  ; 
xxxvi.  8,  9),  namely,  Neri,  who  belonged  to  the 
tribe  of  Judah  and "  the  family  of  David.  From 
this  marriage  sprang  Shealtiel,  Malkiram,  Peda- 
iah,  and  others.  The  eldest  of  these  took  posses- 
sion of  the  property  of  his  maternal  grandfather, 
and  was  regarded  legally  as  his  son.  Hence  he  is 
described  in  1  Chron.  iii.  17  as  the  son  of  Assir  the 
son  of  Jeconiah,  whereas  in  Luke  he  is  regarded, 
according  to  his  lineal  descent,  as  the  son  of  Neri. 
But  Shealtiel  also  appears  to  have  died  without 
posterity,  and  to  have  left  only  a  widow,  which  ne- 
cessitated a  Levirate  marriage  on  the  part  of  one  of 
the  brothers  ( Deut.  xxv.  5,10;  Matt.  xxii.  24,  28). 
Shealtiel's  second  brother  Pedaiah  appears  to  have 
performed  this  duty,  to  have  begotten  Zerubbabel 
and  Shimei  by  this  sister-in-law  (1  Chron.  iii.  19), 
the  former  of  whom,  Zerubbabel,  was  entered  in 
the  family  register  of  the  deceased  uncle  Sheal- 
tiel,  passing  as  his  (legal)  son  and  heir,  and  con- 
tinuing his  family."  <""75  ("governor")  is  a 
general  term  for  a  civil  and  military  ruler  of  a  di- 
vision of  a  kingdom,  applied  at  first  to  those  of 
the  Persian  monarchy,  and  extended  to  those  of 
others  in  writings  of  the  later  period  (1  Kings  x- 
15).  It  was  applied  both  to  satraps,  as  Tatnai 
(Ezra  v.  3),  and  to  inferior  governors,  as  Zerub- 
babel. Joshua  is  the  same  person  so  frequently 
mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Zechariah,  upon  whom 
the  high  distinction  was  conferred  of  representing 
the  Messiah  as  the  future  Prince  and  Priest  of  Is- 
rael, in  the  symbolical  transaction  recorded  in  Zech. 
iii.  It  is  in  accordance  with  this  typical  function 
that  Joshua  is  addressed  here  along  with  Zerub- 
babel, not  merely  as  the  highest  representative  of 
the  sacred  priestly  office,  but  also,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, as  ruling  the  people  jointly  with  the  civil  gov- 
ernor. Such  authority  was  "gradually  more  and 
more  assumed  by  the  High  Priests  after  the  disso- 
lution of  the  kingdom  until  the  tendency  culminat- 
ed in  the  Maccabsean  princes,  who  formally  united 
the  two  functions  in  one  person.  It  was,  there- 
fore, as  the  leaders  of  the  people  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical, that  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  were  appealed 
to.  "  Upon  them  the  responsibility  is  laid  if  the 
work  enjoined  by  Jehovah  is  not  accomplished  " 
(Koehler). 

Ver.  2.  Thus  speaketh  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 
This  venerable  formula  is  employed  uniformly  by 
our  Prophet  to  introduce  his  messages.  This  peo- 
ple say.  There  is  no  ground  for  assuming,  as 
many  have  done,  that  the  word  this  is  here  used  in 
a  contemptuous  manner,  like  olrot  and  iste.  There 
is,  however,  a  significance  in  the  choice  of  the  word. 
The  Jews  are  not  called  "  Israel "  or  "  My  peo- 
ple," but  by  an  attributive  which  denotes  indiffer- 
ence, and  thus  indicates  the  divine  displeasure 
against  them.  It  is  not  the  time  to  come.  That 
this  is  the  correct  translation,  is  proved  in  the 
grammatical  note  upon  this  verse.  The  second 
clause :  time  for  the  House  of  Jehovah  to  be 
built,  is  both  explanatory  of  the  first  and  parallel 
K>  it  throughout  in  thought  and  construction. 
'  Coming  "  means  preparing  to  build  the  Temple, 
ts  the  separate  stages  of  preparation  and  erection 
are  distinguished  also  in  ver.  14.  So  most  of  the 
recent  German  expositors,  after  Osiander,  Junius, 
Tremellius,  and  Cocceius.  The  people  had  prob- 
•bly  been  urging  as  an  excuse  for  their  inactivity 


that  their  relations  with  Persia  were  not  favorabU 
to  a  resumption  of  work  upon  the  Temple.  Bui 
this  was  a  mere  pretext ;  for  they  had  made  no 
effort  to  discover  whether  the  new  and  legitimate 
king  Darius  Hystaspes  would  not  regard  them 
with  favor.  Their  inaction  was  not  the  compul- 
sory and  painful  restraint  of  zealous  patriots  and 
ardent  worshippers,  but  the  easy  and  selfish  indif 
ference  of  an  ungrateful  and  unfaithful  people. 
See  a  fuller  estimate  of  their  disposition  at  thij 
time  in  the  Introduction,  §  2. 

Vers.  3,  4.  And  a  word  of  Jehovah  ....  And 
this  House  lying  desolate.  The  disingenuous- 
ness  of  their  plea  is  self-evident,  and  is  therefore 
simply  assumed  in  the  following  discourse,  the  de- 
sign of  which  is  to  awaken  in  them  a  sense  of 
their  ingratitude  to  God.  It  is  represented  to  them 
most  impressively,  with  an  allusion  to  the  very 
language  of  their  pretext,  that  while  they  held 
their  own  wants  and  even  their  luxuries  to  be  mat- 
ters of  pressing  moment,  they  thought  any  time 
suitable  to  attend  to  the  claims  of  their  God; 
that  while  their  own  homes  had  been  regained, 
there  was  yet  no  habitation  for  the  God  of  Israel ; 
that  while  their  wealthy  members  were  using  their 
superfluous  means  to  adorn  and  beautify  their 
dwellings,  God's  dwelling-place  still  lay  desolatet 
appealing  in  vain  to  their  piety  and  patriotism, 
which  had  been  overborne  by  selfishness  and  su- 
pineness.  The  allusion,  moreover,  could  not  fail 
to  expose  the  insincerity  of  their  excuses.  Houses 
wainscoted  with  cedar  were  the  residence  of  kings 
( 1  Kings  vii.  7  ;  Jer.  xxii.  14),  and  if  some  of  them 
had  now  the  command  of  such  resources  as  enabled 
them  to  live  in  princely  splendor,  they  might  sure- 
ly have  reserved  a  portion  for  the  requirements  of 
the  Temple,  when  the  work  of  building  it  should 
be  resumed,  —  if  that  work  had  been  giving  them 
the  least  concern.  The  personal  pronoun  is  re- 
peated—  you  yourselves  —  for  the  sake  of  em- 
phasis, in  order  to  make  more  prominent  the  an- 
tithesis between  them  and  Jehovah.  See  Grammat- 
ical note. 

Ver.  5.  Set  your  heart  upon  your  ways. 
This  expression,  so  frequent  in  our  Prophet  (i.  7  ; 
ii.  15,  18),  is  equivalent  to  :  consider  your  ways. 
As  the  next  verse  shows,  the  people  were  bidden 
to  contemplate  the  results  of  their  late  couraj.  In 
these,  as  displaying  the  operation  of  the  princi- 
ples of  God's  moral  and  theocratical  government, 
they  might  discern  evidences  of  a  disregard  of  nig 
plainly  revealed  will.  They  were  to  infer  the  na- 
ture of  their  conduct  from  its  results. 

Ver.  6.  Ye  have  been  sowing  much  —  into  r 
torn^mrse.  On  the  peculiar  constructions  in  thw 
verse  see  the  grammatical  note.  The  consequences 
of  the  people's  "  ways  "  are  now  specified  as  they 
appeared  in  the  unproductiveness  of  their  fields 
and  the  unprofitableness  of  their  labor  generally. 
The  various  expressions  are  intended  to  form  one 
general  picture,  and  to  set  forth  in  language  partly 
literal  and  partly  figurative,  that  not  only  was 
their  labor  to  a  very  large  extent  profitless,  but 
that  even  what  their  fields  and  their  manual  toil 
did  produce  gave  them  but  little  enjoyment.  The 
latter  result  did  certainly  happen,  and  was  due, 
moreover,  to  the  withdrawal  of  God's  blessings,  as 
appears  plainly  from  ver.  9.  But  to  assume  that 
all  the  expressions  are  to  be  taken  in  their  unqual- 
ified literalness,  as  Calvin,  Osiander,  Koehler,  and 
Keil  seem  to  have  done,  must  be  regarded  as  an 
unwarranted  as  well  as  unnecessary  interpretation. 
If  we  compare  the  prediction  of  a  similar  condi- 
tion of  things  in  Lev   xxvi  26  (see  on  ver.  5),  wi 


iO 


HAUUAL. 


find  that  the  words :  ye  shall  eat  and  shall  not  be 
satisfied,  imply,  as  showi  by  the  context,  that  the 
hunger  threatened  in  case  of  disobedience  would 
result  simply  from  the  scarcity  of  food.  It  is  nat- 
ural to  suppose  that  similar  circumstances  are  de- 
scribed here  by  the  like  expressions.  But  to  hold 
generally  that  the  hunger  and  thirst,  and  cold  were 
not  in  any  degree  removed  by  food,  and  drink,  and 
clothing,  would   be   to  postulate   a   miracle  quite 

without  necessity,  ^-rt^'  t0  bring  in,  is  the  term 
proper  to  harvesting  (coinp.  2  Sam.  ix.  10,  and  the 
figurative  use  of  the  word  in  Ps.  xc.  12).  The  last 
clause,  in  a  striking  figure,  illustrates  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  remuneration  for  labor,  from  which 
we  may  infer  that  business  generally  was  almost 
prostrated. 

This  verse  and  vers.  9-11  are  not  at  all  incon- 
sistent with  ver.  4.  There  the  rebuke  is  directed 
against  the  wealthier  members,  as  before  indicated. 
They,  having  probably  become  possessed  of  some 
property  in  Babylon,  and  having  prospered  during 
the  first  few  years  of  their  Jewish  residence,  still 
lived  in  comparative  prosperity,  and  were  therefore 
in  a  position  to  give  of  their  means  and  time  to 
the  work  they  had  neglected.  The  mass  of  the 
people,  however,  though  presumably  also  prosper- 
ous at  first,  were  now  suffering  from  those  temporal 
inflictions  visited  upon  them  by  God  on  account  of 
their  neglect  of  their  paramount  duty  to  Him, 
which  would  soon  involve  the  entire  community, 
rich  and  poor,  in  complete  destitution,  unless  they 
aroused  themselves  from  their  sinful  indifference. 

Ver.  7.  The  admonition  of  ver.  5  is  repeated 
here,  both  as  betokening  greater  urgency,  and 
also  for  the  purpose  of  reinforcing  the  argument 
of  vers.  5,  6,  by  showing  to  what  course  a  con- 
scientious review  of  tbeir  conduct  should  determine 
them.  They  should  be  impelled,  as  is  next  shown, 
to  make  immediate  preparations  for  the  complete 
restoration  of  the  Temple. 

Ver.  8.  Go  up  to  the  mountain  and  bring 
wood,  and  build  the  House.  It  is  somewhat  dif- 
ficult to  determine  the  precise  application  of  ""^^ 
in  this  passage.  Leaving  out  of  view  the  alto- 
gether improbable  notion  of  Grotius,  Rosenmiil- 
ler,  ;u«l  Newcome,  that  it  refers  to  Mount  Moriah 
itself,  on  which  the  Temple  stood,  we  find  that 
while  perhaps  the  majority  of  modern  expositors 
(e.g.  J.  D.  Michaelis,  Maurer,  Keil,  Moore,  Fausset) 
regard  it  as  a  collective  expression  for  the  hilly 
parts  of  Palestine  generally,  in  accordance  with 
Neh.  viii.  15  ;  Josh.  ix.  1  ;  xi.  2,  32,  many  others 
(e.  g.,  Cocceius,  Ewald,  Henderson)  limit  its  appli- 
cation to  Mount  Lebanon.  It  is  most  probable  that 
no  definite  mountain  was  thought  of,  the  command 
not  restricting  the  sphere  of  operation  even  to  Pal- 
estine itself,  but  urging  the  people  in  general  terms 
to  seek  building  material  in  those  districts  in  which 
it  could  best  be  obtained.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  remind  the  reader  that  it  was  upon  the  high 
lands  of  the  country  that  the  most  suitable  timber 
grew.  As  there  is  no  command  with  reference  to 
stone  for  the  walls,  the  building  of  which  had  al- 
ready begun  (ch.  ii.  18  ;  Ezra  iii.  10;  v.  16),  it  is 
plain  that "  wood  "  is  put  here  for  building  material 
generally.  And  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it  and 
will  be  honored.  Koehler  and  Keil  translate  re- 
flexivcly  :  will  glorify  myself,  that  is,  upon  the 
people  by  blessing  them.  But  this  sense  is  not  ob- 
rious.  It  is  best,  with  Maurer,  Moore,  and  others, 
to  take  the  word  in  its  primary  application.  See 
Textual  note. 


Vers.  9-11.  The  exhortation  of  the  last  verse  il 
now  reinforced  by  a  more  fresh  and  elaborate  pre- 
sentation of  those  disastrous  consequences  of  diso- 
bedience which  had  been  urged  in  ver.  6.  The  con- 
nection with  ver.  8  may  be  easily  perceived.  Jeho- 
vah had  there  promised  to  manifest  his  approbation 
if  the  people  would  return  to  their  duty.  The  cer 
tainty  of  this  must  be  evident  to  them  ;  for  was 
not  their  domestic  distress  a  consequence  of  their 
neglect  of  his  claims  upon  their  service  ?  The  ra 
lation  of  these  verses  to  all  of  the  discourse  that 
precedes,  becomes  clearer  when  we  perceive  that 
the  whole  passage,  vers,  5-11,  is  intended  to  force 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  the  consideration 
that  ruin  is  awaiting  them,  unless  they  proceed  at 
once  with  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple.  The 
command  in  ver.  8  therefore,  though  expressing 
the  practical  conclusion  to  which  the  whole  mes- 
sage tends,  is  not  the  leading  sentence  in  the  dis- 
course, but  is  introduced  as  subsidiary  to  the  main 
argument.  Ver.  5,  and  again  ver.  7,  exhort  the  peo- 
ple to  consider  their  ways.  Ver.  8  shows  the  joyful 
consequences  of  obedience.  Vers.  9-11  suggest,  by 
depicting  the  baleful  results  of  past  disobedience, 
the  evils  which  the  continuance  of  such  a  course 
would  entail. 

Ver.  9.  Ye  looked  for  much  —  every  man  to 
his  own  house.  On  the  construction,  see  Gram- 
matical note.  The  literal  translation  of  the  first 
clause  would  be :  ye  turned  towards  much  (Ex. 
xvi.  10).  The  allusion  is  to  a  frequent  inspection 
of  the  growing  crops.  I  blew  upon  it,  for  the 
purpose  of  scattering  and  dissipating  it.  The 
small  quantity  that  was  gathered  profited  but  lit- 
tle, on  account  of  the  absence  of  God's  blessing, 
according  to  the  general  notion  conveyed  by  ver.  6. 
See  the  remarks  upon  that  verse.  Why  ?  saith 
Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Though  the  present  condi- 
tion of  things  could  very  well  have  been  accounted 
for  by  the  people  themselves,  Jehovah  condescends 
to  explain  it  to  them.  He  Himself  asks  the  cause, 
and  gives  the  solution  to  which  the  whole  of  the 
discourse  had  been  leading,  —  that  while  their  own 
affairs  had  been  absorbing  their  thoughts,  his 
claims  had  been  disregarded.  Because  of  my 
house  which  is  desolate,  and  ye  are  running 
every  man  to  his  own  house.  As  in  ver.  4,  the 
different  feelings  with  which  the  people  were  re- 
garding God's  House  and  their  own  houses,  are 
sharply  contrasted,  but  here  the  latter  do  not  seem 
to  be  limited  in  application  to  the  dwellings  them- 
selves, the  word  "  house  "  being  probably  employed 
as  the  centre  of  that  activity  which  they  all  mani- 
fested in  their  haste  to  attend  to  their  own  con- 
cerns. 

Ver.  10.    We  concur  with  Keil  in   the  opinion 

that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  ED1* .73? 
is  to  be  translated:  above  you,  or:  on  your  ac- 
count. We  incline  rather  to  the  former  view, 
though  it  is  stoutly  opposed  by  Hitzig,  Henderson, 
and  others.  A  difficulty  likewise  meets  us  in  the 
rest  of  the  clause.  S^D,  in  the  second  member  of 
the  verse,  is  transitive,  with  a  direct  object.  If 
transitive  here  also,  we  expect  an  object  expressed 
or  understood  ;  but  Kohler  and  Keil,  who  deny  an 
intransitive  or  reflexive  sense,  do  not  inform  us 
what  that  object  is ;  for  they  maintain  rightly  that 

vTSB  is  privative  (from  dew),  and  in  fact  use  in 
an  intransitive  sense  the  verb  which  they  employ 
in  their  translation  (darum  \aben  iiber  euch  du 
Himmel  zuriickgehalten  dass  k  in   Thau  Jiel).      If 

7I2D  is  priv  itive,  the  reflexive  sense  would  Men 


CHAPTER  I.    1-11. 


U 


to  be  unavoidable.  Ewald,  Umbreit,  Henderson, 
take  that  word  as  the  object,  and  that  in  a  parti- 
tive sense :  has  restrained  of  her  dew,  a  rendering 
which  Kohler  rightly  condemns  as  too  prosaic. 

Ver.  1 1 .  And  I  invoked  desolation  —  upon 
all  the  labor  of  (men's)  hands.  This  verse  still 
depends  upon  the  "  therefore"  of  ver.  10,  complet- 
ing the  picture  of  misfortune  and  threatening  ruin 
evoked  by  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  people.     We 

translate  3"^n  desolation,  because  it  is  the  only 
word  which  will  apply  to  all  the  objects  cited  in 
the  verse.  The  phrase  has  moreover  been  chosen 
designedly  by  the  Prophet  to  indicate  both  the  jus 
tice  and  the  fitness  of  the  retribution.  They  al- 
lowed Gods  House  to  lie  "desolate"  (vers.  4,  9). 
Disaster  and  failure  had  already  visited  their  fields 
and  the  labor  of  their  hands,  and  very  soon,  if 
they  should  remain  unmoved  in  their  guilty  indif- 
ference, the  blighting  curse  invoked  by  their  of 
fended  God  would  fall  upon  them  in  its  unre- 
strained severity,  when  they  should  realize  the  full 
meaning  of  that  sentence  afterwards  pronounced 
upon  their  obdurate  and  ungrateful  descendants  : 
Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  The  two  great  objects  of  the  institution  of 
Prophecy  were  to  direct  the  inner  life  of  God's 
people  into  harmony  with  the  commands  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Law,  and  to  point  forward  to  Him 
who  was  to  fulfill  both  the  Law  and  the  Prophets. 
Our  Prophet,  >as  we  shall  see,  represented  both  of 
these  functions.  In  this  chapter  he  is  concerned 
with  the  religious  condition  of  the  people  as  ex- 
pressed by  their  attitude  towards  God's  true  wor- 
ship. Their  persistent  disregard  of  the  claims  of 
their  Deliverer  and  King  indicated  plainly  a  grow- 
ing estrangement  and  disloyalty  of  heart.  They 
could  only  be  recalled  to  devotion  and  duty  through 
a  message  of  rebuke  and  warning  from  God  through 
an  inspired  and  chosen  messenger  (comp.  ver.  13). 
And  such  utterances  were  naturally  directed  against 
the  most  patent  and  flagrant  violation  of  their  re- 
ligious duty,  —  their  neglect  of  the  House  of  God. 
The  Temple,  as  the  centre  of  the  Jewish  worship, 
the  place  where  Jehovah's  presence  was  manifested, 
where  national  and  individual  sins  might  be  cov- 
ered over,  and  where  the  favor  of  God  might  be 
invoked  upon  his  people,  was  indispensable  to  the 
very  life  of  the  nation  as  a  people  of  God.  To  neg- 
lect it  was  to  commit  treason  against  Him,  to  re- 
ject Him  as  their  God  and  King,  and  to  invite 
his  rejection  of  them. 

2.  Such  indifference  to  the  demands  of  God  upon 
the  service  of  his  people  was  necessarily  followed 
by  his  estrangement  from  them.  For,  as  the  wor- 
ship in  the  Temple  secured  their  admission  into 
the  very  presence  of  God,  it  was  both  in  type  and 
reality  a  meeting  not  simply  of  reconciliation  but 
of  cordial  friendship,  a  renewed  ratification  of  the 
Covenant  (comp.  Rev.  xxi.  3).  As  loving  God's 
House  and  being  devoted  to  its  service,  could  He 
fittingly  call  them  "  My  People :  "  and  it  seems  no 
less  fitting  and  necessary  that  indifference  on  their 
part  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  favor  and  confidence 
should  alienate  his  regard,  that  tenderness  in  Him 
ihould  become  aversion,  that  the  Israel  of  God 
should  be  coldly  recognized  as  "  this  people." 

3.  But  other  and  more  palpable  consequences 
must  follow  such  a  course  of  conduct  on  the  part 
»f    God's  people.    It  was  a  warning   repeatedly 


urged  upon  them  by  Moses  in  t  e  illustration  ol 
that  Law  which  was  to  be  the  guide  of  their  na- 
tional and  individual  life;  it  was  a  lesson  impressed 
upon  them  by  many  a  hard  experience  of  public 
and  private  distress  and  calamity,  culminating  in 
that  long  captivity  from  which  they  had  so  lately 
emerged,  that  the  loss  of  God's  favor  involves  not 
merely  religious  and  moral  deterioration,  but  the 
withdrawal  of  that  providential  care  which  secures 
a  due  return  to  labor,  with  fruitful  seasons  and 
bounteous  harvests,  and  even  follows  men  to  their 
homes,  leading  every  act  and  thought  to  enjoyment 
and  happiness.  Deprived  of  such  care,  they,  in 
all  their  pursuits,  might  look  and  look  again  foi 
much,  but  they  would  surely  bring  in  little. 

4.  Such  dealings  on  the  part  of  God  towards 
bis  people,  while  setting  forth  clearly  the  doctrine 
of  retribution  ( De  Wette),  are  not  simply  punitive  : 
they  are  also  corrective  and  remedial  in  design  and 
tendency.  Otherwise  prophecy  would  be  nothing 
but  the  repeated  announcement  of  an  impending 
doom.  Otherwise  there  would  be  no  meaning  in 
the  message  of  our  Prophet,  who,  while  holding 
out  to  his  people  no  other  prospect  than  that  of 
distress  and  desolation  as  the  result  of  continued 
disobedience,  presents  also  the  inspiring  and  quick- 
ening vision  of  their  God  and  King  restored  by 
their  obedience  to  the  dwelling-place  which  they 
are  urged  to  prepare  for  Him,  and  looking  forth 
upon  them  thence  in  favor  and  love  (ver.  8).  In 
this  he  is  the  prophet,  not  of  his  faithless  country- 
men alone,  but  also  of  a  God-despising  yet  not 
God  abandoned  world  :  he  still  calls  out  to  men 
on  behalf  of  God  :  Consider  your  ways. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Vers.  2-4.  ("This  people"  instead  of  "My 
people"):  The  loss  of  God's  confidence:  (1)  Its 
occasions  ;  (2)  Its  consequences ;  (3)  Its  retrieval. 
—  There  is  a  time  for  everything  with  men  ;  but 
they  should  consider,  (1)  Who  it  is  that  claims 
their  first  and  most  devoted  service ;  (2)  the  means 
and  methods  of  serving  Him  best. 

Calvin  :  Men  are  very  ingenious,  when  they 
wish  to  hide  their  delinquencies. 

Matthew  Henry  :  There  is  an  aptness  in  us 
to  misinterpret  providential  discouragements  in 
our  duty,  as  if  they  amounted  to  a  discharge  from 
our  duty,  when  they  are  only  intended  for  the  trial 
and  exercise  of  our  courage  and  faith.  It  is  bad 
to  neglect  our  duty  ;  but  it  is  worse  to  vouch  Prov- 
idence for  the  patronizing  of  our  neglects. 

Cramer  :  There  are  many  men,  who  have 
a  plenty  of  money  when  they  are  going  to  build 
houses  for  themselves,  but  a  great  scarcity  of  it 
when  any  is  wanted  for  churches,  or  schools,  or 
anything  else  to  promote  God's  glory. 

Moore  :  The  carved  ceilings  and  costly  orna- 
ments will  have  a  tongue  in  the  day  of  judgment. 

Vers.  5,  6.  In  considering  our  ways,  we  should 
seek  to  discover,  ( 1 )  the  motives  that  have  urged 
us;  (2)  whither  our  present  ways  would  lead  us 
at  the  end  of  our  earthly  course. 

Gerlach  :  Fruitfulness  or  sterility  comes  from 
God,  not  from  blind  and  powerless  Nature.  This 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  from  Paradise 
and  the  Fall  to  its  close. 

Moore  :  A  careful  pondering  of  God's  dealingi 
with  us  will  often  indicate  to  us  God's  will  regard 
ing  us. 

Ver.  8.  God  will  not  come  to  bless  us  as  an  un 
invited  Quest-  His  favor  will  be  displayed  towards 


12 


L1AGGA1. 


us  only  when  we  have  prepared  Him  a  temple  in 
our  hearts. 

Vers.  9-11.  Inflictions  of  suffering  by  God  in 
his  providence  are  always  charged  witli  a  salutary 
lesson :  they  are  a  warning  to  his  despisers,  and  a 
correction  to  his  children. 


Fausset  :  The  very  evils  which  men  thiuk  t« 
escape  by  neglecting  God's  ordinances,  they  actu- 
ally bring  on  themselves  by  such  unbelieving  neg 
lect. 


SECOND    ADDRESS. 

On  the  Repentance  of  the  People,  God's  Presence  among  Them  it  promised. 

Chapter  I.    12-15. 


12  And  Zerubbabel,  son  of  Shaltiel,1  and  Joshua,  son  of  Josadak,  the  High  Priest, 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  people,  listened  to  the  voice  of  Jehovah  their  God,  and  to 
the  words  of  Haggai  the  Prophet,  according  as  Jehovah  their  God  had  sent  him  ; 

13  and  the  people  feared  before  Jehovah.  Then  Haggai  the  Prophet  of  Jehovah 
spoke  to  the  people  on  the  mission  of  Jehovah,  saying :  I  am  with  you,  saith  Jeho- 

14  vah.  And  Jehovah  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  Zerubbabel,  son  of  Shaltiel,  Governor 
of  Judah,  and  the  spirit  of  Joshua,  son  of  Josadak,  the  High  Priest,  and  the  spirit 
of  all  the  rest  of  the  people,  and  they  came  and  worked  upon  the  House  of  Jehovah 

15  of  Hosts  their  God,  On  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  sixth  month,  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius  the  King.2 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  12.—  bfrOJ-l^ttJ.     The  first  S  is  dropped  here,  as  in  ver.  14  and  ch.  ii.  2  ;  see  Green,  §  58,  3  a. 
S  Ver.  16.  —  Some  MSS.  and  editions  transfer  this  verse  to  the  beginning  of  next  chapter.     The  ordinary  division  if 
Ihown  to  be  correct  by  the  disagreement  of  dates  in  successive  verses,  which  the  other  arrangement  would  involve. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  effect  of  the  Prophet's  words  upon  the  peo- 
ple was  powerful  and  abiding,  and  upon  the  very 
first  indication  of  a  change  in  their  disposition,  he 
is  commissioned  to  tell  them  that  God's  favor  had 
already  returned,  and  that  He  would  assist  them 
in  their  labors.  The  work  is  then  speedily  recom- 
menced under  the  influence  of  that  new  zeal  with 
which  Jehovah  inspires  both  leaders  and  people. 

Ver.  12.    The  dispute  among  the  expositors  as 

to  whether  0^7  '"'"^'S^  means  :  the  remnant  of 
the  people,  those  left  from  the  Captivity,  or :  the 
rest  of  the  people,  would  seem  to  be  needless,  as 
it  is  only  those  who  listened  to  the  Prophet's  dis- 
courses that  are  described  here,  and  they  were  as- 
suredly not  "  all  the  remnant  "  of  the  people.  It 
is  true  that  the  address  had  been  delivered  on  a 
least  day ;  but  from  the  religious  character  of  the 
community  at  that  time,  we  can  hardly  suppose 
that  it  had  assembled  in  a  body  to  worship.  Nor 
can  it  be  a  later  occasion  that  is  alluded  to,  when 
they  might  be  fully  represented.  In  that  case  we 
would  have  to  take  37J2t?T  as  meaning  that  they 
obeyed  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  Their  obedience  is 
not  exhibited  before  vers.  14,  15,  and  what  the 
present  verse  must  mean  is,  that  they  were  listen- 
ing to  the  words  above  recorded.     The  words  of 

1  The  phrase  "  messenger  of  Jehovah  "  is  not  applied  to 
prophets  exclusively  ;  see  Mai.  ii.  7,  where  it,  is  employed 
tt  the  priestH.  It  was  a  term  more  appropriate  to  the 
province  of  the  former,  but,  especially  in  later  times  when 


Haggai  the  Prophet  are,  doubtless,  not  an  addi- 
tional discourse  of  Haggai  unrecorded ;  they  ex- 
plain, by  hendiadys,  the  voice  of  Jehovah  their 
God,  the  message  just  delivered.  It  is  unneces- 
sary, with  Koehler,  Keil,  et  al.,  to  render  v>57 
""Q"?,  according  to.  It  is  in  fact  questionable 
whether  ?  and  'V  indicate  any  difference  in  the  ap- 
plication of  V12W.  In  2  Kiugs  xx.  13 ;  Jer.  xxiii 
16,     V  is  used  with  this  verb  in  the  sense  of  listen 

ing  to.  "'H?W3  has  here  chiefly  a  causal  sense 
They  discerned  in  the  words  of  Haggai,  the  voice 
of  God,  and  they  listened  to  his  address  because  he 
attested  himself  to  be  God's  messenger.  And  the 
people  feared  before  Jehovah.  This  clause  in- 
dicates one  of  the  causes  of  the  rapt  attention  of 
the  people,  as  well  as  its  most  important  result. 

Ver.  13.  I  am  with  you,  saith  Jehovah.  This 
brief  message,1  delivered  at  this  crisis,  is  one  of 
great  significance  in  the  experience  of  the  people 
as  reflected  in  the  discourses  of  the  Prophet.  The 
fact  that  God  could  now  promise  his  presence  and 
assistano*  is  proof  that  their  fear  before  Him  was 
followed  by  sincere  repentance.  In  their  ultimate 
significance  the  words  themselves  contain  the  only 
explanation  of  the  immediate  revival  of  the  com 
munity,  political  and  religious. 

prophecy  was  retiring  more  into  the  background,  its  func- 
tions were  often  naturally  transferred  in  some  measure  tc 
the  former,  who  thus  became  ttackert  of  the  people.  Comp 
Hiivernick,  Einlritung,  J  M6. 


CHAPTER   II.  1-9. 


1* 


Vers.  14,  15.  The  promised  presence  and  assist- 
ance of  God,  immediately  vouchsafed,  were  mani- 
fested in  the  rekindled  ardor  of  the  discouraged 
leaders,  who,  with  the  repentant  people,  were  now 
animated  to  engage  with  cheerful  alacrity  in  the 
work  to  which  they  were  summoned.  After  about 
three  weeks  spent  in  preparing  material  sufficient 
to  justify  the  inception  of  the  work,  the  walls  of 
the  Second  Temple  began  again  to  rise  from  the 
foundations  which  had  been  laid  fifteen  years  be- 
fore by  the  same  people. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

It  is  a  decisive  moment  in  the  life  of  an  individ- 
ual or  of  a  people  when  they  are  addressed  with 
words  of  solemn  warning,  and  discern  therein  the 
voice  of  God.  On  submission  or  indifference  to 
those  words  is  suspended  their  weal  or  woe,  their 
glory  or  ruin.  Let  them  but  listen  with  that  sav- 
ing fear  (HS^,  ver.  12)  which  is  not  hopeless  ter- 
ror, but  in  reality  the  birth-throes  of  a  new  and 
living  hope,  and  Jehovah  of  Hosts  Himself  comes 
to  be  with  them  ;  and  that  not  only  for  inspiration 
Hat  also  for  help ;  the  one  being  the  condition  of 


all  noble  exertion,  the  other  the  sure  pledge  of  it* 
triumph. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PBACT1CAL 

Ver.  12.  Successful  preachers  need  not  ascribe 
to  themselves  the  merit  of  the  results  of  their  la- 
bors. It  is  the  voice  of  God  which  makes  theii 
hearers  listen.  —  Whom  God  would  make  strong 
for  his  service  He  first  subdues  to  his  fear. 

Vers.  13,  14.  The  presence  of  God  in  our  la- 
bors: (1)  The  conditions  on  which  it  may  be  se- 
cured; (2)  Its  influences  upon  our  souls ;  (3)  Its 
consequences  in  our  achievements. 

Burck  :  "  I  am  with  you  :  "  here  all  former 
threatening  is  recalled,  and  all  former  disobedi- 
ence forgiven :  When  God,  the  Prime  Mover, 
moves  the  heart,  then  the  work  moves  forward. 

Matthew  Henry  :  When  God  has  work  to  do, 
He  will  either  find  or  make  men  fit  to  do  it,  and 
stir  them  up  to  it.  Those  that  have  lost  time  have 
need  to  redeem  time. 

Moore  :  God  is  waiting  to  be  gracious,  and 
will  meet  the  returning  wanderer,  even  before  his 
hand  has  begun  the  work  of  his  service. 


THIRD  ADDRESS. 

The  Glory  of  the  Second  Temple. 

Chapter  II.  1-9. 


1  In  the  seventh  (month),  and  the  twenty-first  (day)  of  the  month  there  was   m 

2  word  of  Jehovah  by  the  hand  of  Haggai  the  Prophet,  saying :  Speak,  now,  to 
Zerubbabel,  son  of  Shaltiel,  governor  of  Judah,  and  to  Joshua,  son  of  Jozadak,  the 

3  high  priest,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  saying:  Who  among  you  is  left1  that  has 
seen  this  house  in  its  former  glory  ?     And  what  are  seeing  it  (to  be)  now  ?     Is  not 

4  such 2  (a  one)  as  it  like  nothing  in  your  eyes  ?  But  come !  be  strong,  Zerubbabel, 
saith  Jehovah ;  and  be  strong  Joshua,  son  of  Jozadak,  high  priest ;  and  be  strong, 
all  the  people  of  the  land,  saith  Jehovah ;  for  I  am  with  you,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 

5  With  the  word  3  which  I  covenanted  with  you  when  you  were  coming  out  of  Egypt ; 

6  and  my  Spirit  is  abiding  in  your  midst ;  fear  not.  For  thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 
Once  more  *  —  it  is  a  little  while  —  and  I  will  be  shaking  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 

7  and  the  sea  and  the  dry  land.  And  I  will  shake s  all  the  Gentiles  ;  and  the  treasures. 
of  all  the  Gentiles  shall  come ;  and  I  shall  fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  Jeho- 

8  vah  of  Hosts.     The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  Jehovah   of  Hosts. 

9  The  latter  glory  of  this  house  shall  be  greater  than  the  former,  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts ;  and  in  this  house  I  will  give  peace,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

TEXTUAL   IND   GRAMMATICAL. 
1  Ver.  3.  —  "1HK72n.      The  article  Is  employed  here  (=  who  Is  the  one  that  is  left)  because  the  predicate  is  made 
definite  by  the  description  which  follows  (that  has  beheld  this  House,  etc.) ;  comp.  Jer.  xlix.  36.  and  see  Green,  R  245,  1 
Bwald,§277a.     .  •*—>-» 

«  Ver.  3.  —  ifD   (=  qualem)  agrees  with   VYlN   as  the  attributive  of  the  object,  Ewald,  §  325  a,  ad  finem.     Thil 

a«e  of  Hip  (as  suggesting  the  character  of  the  object)  seems  to  justify  the  explanation  of  *pSD  ^HOS  after  the 
poalogy  of  Joel  ii.  2  :  Is  not  such  (a  one)  as  it  as  nothing  in  your  eyes?  See  Ewald,  §  105  b,  1.  So  Riickert,  Maurer, 
Hitzig,  Moore.  To  this  Koehler,  and  after  him  Keil,  object  that  then  it  would  not  be  the  Temple,  but  something  like  it 
that  is  compared  to  nothing,  which  would  be  very  tame.     But  every  one  knows  that  in  expressions  of  this  kind  "  such  " 

wters  to  the  subject  of  discourse  with  an  allusion  at  the  same  time  to  its  character.  Here  ^HED  (=a  temple  like 
tola)  would  niturally  refer  back  to  HE   '.«=  what  sort  of  Temple  ?).     Hence  we  prefer  this  view  to  the  one  more  oonv 


M 


HAGGAI. 


mooly  entertained,  and  upheld  by  these  critics,  that  we  have  here  an  inversion  ot  the  usual  orler  of  the  partit  es  ol 
comparison  :  Is  not  as  nothing  so  it  ?  =  Is  it  not  as  nothing  ;  comp.  Gen.  xviii.  25  ;  xliv.  18  (as  Pharaoh  so  thou).  Tin 
rendering  adopted  by  Rosenmuller,  Eichhorn,  el  al.,  as  well  as  by  E.  V.  and  most  English  expositorn,  is  indefensible. 

8  Ver.  5.  —  ""Q'-TrTnS.      See  the  exegesis,  which  involves  in  this  passage  so  much  grammatical  discussion  that  w« 

T  T  - 

remit  the  latter  to  that  section 

4  Ver.  6.  —  The  reasons  decisive  against  the  opinion  that  f"inH  is  joined  as  a  numeral  adjective  to  tTi'p  ar«  (1) 
that  the  latter  is  never  feminine,  and  (2)  that  iu  such  a  construction  the  numeral  always  follows  the  substantive.  Se« 
the  exegesis,  where  other  grammatical  difficulties  connected  with  the  passage  are  discussed. 

6  Ver.  7.  —  The  perfects  in  this  verse  have  the  force  of  the  future  perfect  and  not  of  the  prophetic  perfect :  I  shall 
have  shaken,  etc.     So  in  ver.  22. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  rebukes  and  warnings  and  encouragements 
of  the  Prophet  having  thus  exerted  their  due  in- 
fluence, it  might  seem  as  if  no  further  message 
were  needed.  But  a  new  danger  soon  threatened 
to  retard  the  progress  of  the  work,  a  manifestation 
of  despondency  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  people. 
It  was  natural  that  those  of  them  who  had  beheld 
the  first  Temple  in  its  magnificent  beauty,  would 
feel  somewhat  dispirited  at  the  sight  of  the  new 
structure,  so  inferior  in  outward  attractions,  and 
awakening  so  many  suggestions  of  national  de- 
cline and  calamity,  and  that  their  feelings  of  de- 
jection would  soon  spread  through  a  large  part  of 
the  community.  These  symptoms,  on  their  very 
first  appearance,  called  forth  the  third  address  of 
the  Prophet,  which,  however  it  may  be  interpreted 
in  detail,  must  be  admitted  to  be  a  noble  product 
of  the  genuine  prophetic  spirit,  and  of  the  highest 
significance  in  that  period  of  their  history  on 
which  the  people  were  now  entering.  We  may  con- 
sider it  in  three  aspects  according  to  its  three  lead- 
ing ideas  :  ( 1 )  as  adapted  to  encourage  the  people 
in  their  present  dejection  ;  (2)  as  suggesting  those 
characteristics,  religious  and  moral,  of  the  new 
era,  which  would  prove  it  superior  to  any  former 
period  of  Israel's  history;  (3)  as  predicting  the 
glory  of  the  universal  Church  of  God,  represented 
by  the  second  Temple.  How  these  ideas  are  con- 
tained in  the  address  will  appear  in  the  course  of 
the  exposition. 

Vers.  1,  2.  Comparing  the  date  with  the  time  in 
which  the  work  began  (i.  15),  it  will  be  seen  that 
more  than  three  weeks  had  elapsed,  duringwhich  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  less  ardent  of  the  builders  would 
have  begun  to  flag.  To  this  change  of  feeling,  a 
circumstance  would  contribute  which  was  noticed 
by  Cocceius,  that  the  2 1st  day  of  the  seventh  month 
was  the  seventh  and  last  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tab- 
ernacles, on  which  occasion,  as  it  was  the  close  of 
the  ingathering,  thanks  were  to  be  rendered  for 
bountiful  harvests.  A  certain  degree  of  despond- 
ency would  be  excited  by  the  recollection  that  the 
harvest  of  the  present  year  had  been  so  scanty 
(ch.  ii.  9-11).  Hence  there  was  all  the  more  ur- 
gent occasion  for  some  word  of  comfort  and  cheer. 
We  must  remember  that  such  a  state  of  feeling 
would  be  quite  unlike  that  posture  maintained  by 
the  people,  which  had  evoked  the  first  discourse 
Then  their  selfish  indifference  had  to  be  met  by 
reproach  and  warning  ;  now  their  fainting  courage 
must  be  sustained  and  their  feeble  faith  revived  by 
encouragement  and  promise. 

Ver.  3.  Who  is  he  that  is  left  among  you  ? 
. Is  it  not  such  (a  Temple)  as  this  like  noth- 
ing in  your  eyes  ?  We  have  no  evidence  that 
the  feeling  of  disappointment  among  the  people 
was  openly  expressed,  or  that  it  was  sufficient  to 
prompt  them  to  suspend  their  labors.  All  the 
greater  and  more  considerate  is  seen  to  be  Jeho- 
rah's  returning  favor.     He  would  have  them  not 


merely  steadfast,  but  also  cheerful  and  hopeful  in 
their  work.  He  first  addresses  those  who  must 
have  suffered  most  keenly  in  reflecting  upon  the 
outward  appearance  of  the  present  structure  — 
those  who  had  beheld  the  splendor  of  its  predeces- 
sor.  It  was  not  quite  seventy  years  since  the  de- 
struction of  the  First  Temple,  and  there  must  hav« 
been  some  of  those  still  remaining,  whose  weeping 
voices  had  thrown  such  a  gloom  upon  the  cere- 
mony of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  present 
House  (Ezra  iii.  12,  13),  with  whom  the  Kingdom 
of  Israel  was  not  a  matter  of  tradition  but  of  per- 
sonal experience.  If  they  could  be  comforted, 
much  more  likely  was  it  that  the  younger  and 
more  susceptible  portion  would  be  encouraged  and 
cheered.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  two  temples  is  made  by  Jehovah  as 
strong  as  possible.  He  seems  to  admit  that  their 
dejection  was  natural,  and  by  sharing  their  feel- 
ings, so  to  speak,  He  gives  a  most  winning  and  re- 
assuring evidence  of  his  condescension  and  sym- 
pathy. On  the  construction  and  proper  rendering 
of  the  last  clause,  see  Grammatical  Note. 

Vers.  4,  5.  But  come !  be  strong  Zerubbabel 
—  fear  not.  The  depressing  tendency  of  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  was  admitted  ;  but  this  was  no 
reason  why  the  people  should  repine.  In  the  first 
place,  they  might  plead  with  perfect  confidence  the 
gracious  promise  which  they  had  a  little  before  so 
joyfully  received  (ch.  i.  13).  And  if  God  was  in- 
deed with  them,  not  only  would  the  possession  of 
his  favor  and  the  enjoyment  of  his  presence  compen- 
sate for  all  past  distresses,  and  be  all-sufficient  for 
the  new  and  untried  future,  but  his  help,  his  work- 
ing with  them,  would  establish  the  work  of  their 
hands,  and  in  his  strength  they  would  be  strong. 
He  declares  to  them  besides,  that,  as  the  Covenant 
is  still  in  force,  they  are  as  much  the  object  of  his 
care  as  when  that  Covenant  was  first  ratified,  and 
that  in  the  power  of  his  Spirit  resident  with  and 
among  them,  they  would  continually  enjoy  his 
presence  and  support. 

Such  is  the  general  sense  of  vers.  4,  5,  and  it  is 
not  materially  affected  whatever  be  the  true  construc- 
tion of  the  latter  verse,  concerning  which  there  has 
been  much  difference  of  opinion.  The  chief  diffi- 
culty lies  in  the  ambiguity  of  ""Q^^'Hr*.  The 
solutions  that  have  been  proposed  under  the  sup- 
position that  <""IW  is  the  sign  of  the  definite  object 
will  first  come  under  review.  Some,  notably  Ewald 
and  Hengstenberg,  suppose    that   the  governing 

word  (probably  'TOT  .  remember),  is  understood 
at  the  beginning  of  the  verse.  (Remember)  the 
word  which  I  covenanted  with  you,  when  you  came 
forth  from  Egypt  and  my  spirit  dwelt  in  the  midst 
of  you  :  fear  not.  Besides  the  obvious  objection, 
that  this  construction  does  not  readily  suggest  it- 
self, it  may  be  remarked  that  a  reference  to  Ex 
xx.  20,  which  Hengstenberg  regards  as  establish- 
ing his  view,  seems  out  nf  place,  not  onlv  from  tht 


CHAPTER  II.   1-y. 


la 


improbability  in  general  of  an  allusion  to  a  com- 
paratively unimportant  expression  uttered  so  many 
ages  before,  but  also  from  the  utter  want  of  anal- 
ogy between  the  present  circumstances  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  situation  supposed  to  be  compared 
with  them  here.  Moreover  (it  is  not  too  much  to 
say),  on  that  special  occasion  the  Spirit  of  God 
was  not  resting  upon  the  people,  as  their  conduct 
immediately  thereafter  abundantly  proves  (Ex. 
xxxii.  7,  8).  Finally,  there  would  seem  to  be  not 
merely  a  certain  incongruity  between  such  a  refer- 
ence and  the  whole  drift  of  the  discourse,  but  the 
allusion  would  absolutely  weaken  the  latter  in  its 
well-sustained  and  lofty  flight.  Equally  unsatis- 
factory upon  exegetical,  though  preferable  on 
grammatical  grounds,  is  the  opinion  (of  Aben  Ez- 
ra, D.  Kimchi,  CEcolampadius,  Rosenmiiller)  that 

"n^nVI^  is  the  object  of  "ifi?2?3i  either  repeated 
from  ver  5  or  with  the  last  clause  of  that  verse 

farenthetical :  perform  the  word  (covenant)  which 
concluded  with  you  ....  then  will  my  spirit 
abide  with  you.  As  Hitzig  remarks,  they  were  not 
to  fulfill  the  commands  of  the  Law,  but  to  build 
the  Temple.    Others  again  (Ruckert,  Hitzig,  Koeh- 

ler,  Keil,  Henderson,  and  Pressel)  take  n#  as  the 
"  sign  of  the  definite  nominative  of  the  subject." 
It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  in  spite  of  the  elaborate 
attempt  made  by  Maurer  in  his  Commentary  to 
throw  doubt  upon  the  existence  of  this  construc- 
tion, there  are  a  few  cases  which  seem  to  prove 
its  occasional  though  rare  occurrence.  The  meth- 
ods, however,  that  have  been  suggested  by  its  ablest 
suppoiters  to  account  for  it  here,  virtually  make  it 
the  sign  of  the  definite  object  —  another  form  of 
the  view  last  mentioned.   It  is  supposed  either  that 

"Q^rPHS  is  attracted  into  the  case  of  ""j*-^  a 
usage  unknown  to  the  Hebrew  language,  a  single 
example  of  which  is  wrongly  claimed  in  Zech.  viii. 
17  (see  Ewald,  §  277  d),  or  that  the  Prophet  had 

intended  to  write  **JTTlD"£n  instead  of  ^!7^^ 

after  ^rTH,  making  all  that  precedes  the  object  of 
that  verb  :  ( I  have  established  the  word  .... 
and  my  Spirit  among  you).  Why  he  should  have 
abandoned  his  original  intention  we  are  not  told. 
If  he  had  done  so,  he  would  probably  have  erased 

the  nS,  as  any  other  writer  would  do  under  like 
circumstances.  More  precarious  still  is  the  notion 
of  De  Wette,  who  regards  HN  as  =  ipse,  according  to 
the  meaning  which  Gesenius  has  attributed  to  that 
word  as  the  primary  one.  He  renders  :  this  word, 
etc.,  referring  to  the  last  clause  of  ver.  4  :  I  am  with 
you.  Maurer  has  been  more  successful  in  combat- 
ing this  theory  with  regard  to  HM,  since  he  has 
shown  clearly  that  it  need  never  be  taken  as  a 
distinctive  or  demonstrative  pronoun.  Luther, 
Calvin,    Eichhorn,    Maurer,     Newcome,    Noyes, 

Moore,  and  Fausset  regard  "^"jnVIN  as  the 
"accusative  of  the  norm  or  standard."  So  our 
E.  V.  :  according  to  the  word,  etc.  It  may  be 
admitted  that  the  accusative  is  sometimes  used 
absolutely  in  Hebrew  to  express  such  a  notion ; 
but  if  it  had  been  so  employed  here,  it  is  hardly 

conceivable  that  the  j"1N,  which  would  have  been 
certain  to  be  misunderstood,  and  moreover,  super- 
fluous, would  have  been  inserted.  No  example 
can  be  found  of  its  occurrence  in  such  a  construc- 
tion.    We  are  therefore  compelled  to  assume  that 

HS  is  here  a  preposition :    with,   as   Cocceius,  | 


[Marckius,  J.  D.  Michaelis,  and  Stier  have  also 
done.  The  first  member  of  ver.  5  would  thus  be 
an  adjunct  of  the  last  clause  of  ver.  4,  and  the 
second  member  parallel  to  it.  Vers.  4,  5  might 
then  be  thus  paraphrased  :  "  Be  strong,  my  peo- 
ple, for  henceforth  I  am  with  you.  I  come  into 
your  midst  with  the  Covenant  which  I  made  with 
you,  when  first  you  became  my  people.  I  renew 
it  with  you  now  that  you  have  returned  to  Me  ;  I 
will  support  and  aid  you  as  I  have  ever  done  to- 
wards my  faithful  people ;  My  spirit  is  resting 
upon  you  ;  behold  in  this  my  faithfulness  proved 
and  my  promise  of  help  fulfilled."  The  only  ob- 
jection of  any  weight  that  can  be  brought  against 
this  view  is  that  the  repetition  of  "  with  "  in  a 
clause  which  is  not  appositive  would  create*  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  awkwardness  in  the  sentence.  This 
must  be  admitted  ;  and  yet  it  is  probable  that  tho 
matter  has  been  regarded  too  much  according  to 
the  standard  of  our  Occidental  analytical  and  flexi- 
ble languages,  and  that  the  locution  would  be  lesi 
offensive  to  the  taste  of  an  ancient  Hebrew. 
Koehier  makes  the  objection,  which  is  repeated  by 
Keil,  that  if  the  J*"lhjj  of  ver.  5  had  been  a  prepo- 
sition, we  should  have  had  in  ver.  4,  for  the  sake 
of  euphony,  25*f  V  instead  of  D*3.*\IS.  But  in 
such  cases  as  this  it  is  merely  the  close  recurrence 
of  similar  sounds  that  offends ;  the  fact  that  the 
words  are  identical  in  meaning  is  quite  without 
influence.  It  is  therefore  a  sufficient  answer  to 
these  objections  to  say  that  the  obnoxious  sound  it 
repeated  here,  where,  according  to  the  construc- 
tion held  by  these  critics,  the  word  nS,  repre- 
senting it,  is  at  best  superfluous.  In  accordance 
with  what  has  been  said,  the  word  which  I  cov- 
enanted with  you,  etc.,  must  be  understood  as 
the  promise  of  God's  continuing  presence  and  fa- 
vor, suspended  upon  the  obedience  of  the  people, 
which  expressed  his  obligations  with  respect  to  the 
Covenant  made  at  Sinai,  whose  validity  was  to  be 
perpetual.  That  the  words  my  Spirit  refer  to 
the  sustaining  and  comforting  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  people,  and  not  to  the  gift  of 
such  special  qualifications  for  the  present  work  as 
were  imparted  to  Bezaleel  and  his  assistants,  Ex. 
xxxi.  I  (Osiander,  Koehier),  or  to  that  of  the  spirit 
of  prophecy  (Targum,  J.  D.  Michaelis,  Newcome, 
Henderson),  is  plain  if  we  consider,  (1)  that  the 
exhortations  are  addressed  to  the  whole  people,  and 
(2)  that  only  through  an  immediate  and  widely 
spread  influence  could  their  incipient  despondency 
be  removed  and  exchanged  for  cheerful  courage. 
Such  inspiration  received  and  operating,  just  as  it 
might  be  sought  and  prized,  would  soon  cause 
them  to  forget  their  fallen  fortunes,  in  their  efforts 
to  speed  the  coming  of  the  promised  triumph. 

They  might  expect  even  more  than  this.  Not 
only  would  the  loss  of  Israel's  ancient  glory  be 
more  than  made  up  to  the  little  colony  by"  the 
abiding  presence  and  help  of  their  Covenant  God  : 
the  very  structure  on  which  they  were  then  en- 
gaged, though  unadorned  by  the  gilded  magnifi- 
cence of  the  former  Temple,  would  yet,  in  its  purer 
and  more  spiritual  worship,  possess  a  glory  all  its 
own,  to  which  its  predecessor  had  never  attained, 
and  would  thus  prefigure  that  everlasting  Temple, 
whose  transcendent  and  ever-increasing  glory 
would  be  displayed  in  the  pilgrimage  thither  of 
worshippers  from  every  nation,  laden  with  their 
choicest  offerings,  and  still  more  in  the  unre- 
strained and  continuing  presence  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit.    The  verses  which  contain  these  promise* 


16 


HAGGAl. 


are  so  closely  connected  that  we  must  expound 
them  as  a  whole. 

Vers.  6-9.    For  thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts 
....  I  will  give  peace,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

The  phrase  WH  1^V72  J"inS  T)37  in  ver.  6  has 
always  been  the  occasion  of  much  dispute.  Tak- 
ing a  survey  of  the  different  views,  we  find  that 
the  rendering  :  it  is  yet  a  little  (while),  of  the  Tar- 
gum  (t^n  VCTty  Sin  1137)  and  the  Vulgate 
(ad  hue  unum  modicum  est)  has  been  adopted  by  Lu- 
ther, Calvin,  Grotius,  and  by  later  expositors,  as 
Ruckert,  Maurer,  Hengstenberg,  Ewald,  Umbreit, 

and  Moore,  HHS  being  regarded  by  most  of  them 
as  =  the  indefinite  article,  but  by  Hengstenberg  as 
strictly  a  numeral  adjective.  Reference  is  made, 
in  support  of  this  view,  to  Ex.  xvii.  4  ;  Ps.  xxxvii. 
10  ;   Hos.  i.  4,  and  other  passages,  in  all  of  which 

cases,  however,  ^PP  is  either  unaccompanied  by 

an  attributive  or  followed  by  *^T^?>  —  an  entirely 
different  construction.  Insuperable  grammatical 
difficulties  attend  this  view,  whichever  of  its  above- 
mentioned  modifications  be  adopted,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  grammatical  note  on  this  verse ;  and 
the  laws  of  the  language  must  be  suffered  to  de- 
cide against  it.  This  consideration  has  led  the 
majority  of  modern  expositors  to  regard  the  sen- 
tence as  made  up  of  two  members :  HHS  "PV 
and  S^H    T23?p.     But  among  these  again  there  is 

a  disagreement  as  to  the  true  force  of  HHW.  The 
greater  number  (including  most  of  the  later  An- 
glo-American expositors,  after  the  E.  V.,  Coccei- 
us,  Marckius,  Koehler,  Keil,  and  Pressel),  follow 

the  LXX.  (iVi  &ra£),  who,  however,  left  H^H  t33?» 
untranslated.     They   understand    D^Q,  which  is 

often  feminine,  with  j""inS,  and  make  the  expres- 
sion =  once,  as  in  Ez.  xxx.  10  ;  2  Kings  vi.  10; 
Job  xl.  5 ;  Josh.  v.  2.  They  accordingly  translate 
the  sentence:  once  more  —  it  is  a  little  while,  etc. 
Hitzig,  Hofmann  (  Weissagung  und  Erfullung,  i. 
330),  Delitzsch  (Comm.  zum  Briefe  an  die  Htbrder, 

ch.  xii.  26),  understand  HV  instead  of  D??«  and 
render:  one  period  more — a  brief  one  is  it,  etc. 
The  Prophet  is  then  supposed  to  have  declared  ( 1 ) 
"  that  the  period  between  the  present  and  the  pre- 
dicted great  change  of  the  world,  will  be  but  one 
period,  i.  e.,  one  uniform  epoch,  and  (2)  that  this 
epoch  will  be"  a  brief  one"  (Delitzsch).  But  it 
cannot  be  shown  without  overworking  the  passage 
that  this  idea  possesses  any  pertinency  to  the 
Prophet's  design  ;  it  seems  strange  in  the  connec- 
tion. Its  advocates  also  ignore  the  distinction  be- 
tween prophecy  and  history.    It  must  therefore  be 

decided  that  03?S  is  the   word   to   be    supplied, 

which  is  distinguished  from  H37  as  occasion  is  from 
oenod,  and  that  the  proper  rendering  is :  Once 
more  —  it  is  a  little  (while)  —  and,  etc.     The  use 

of  "J  to  mark  the  consequent  clause  of  the  sentence 
after  a  statement  of  time  is  in  accordance  with 

Hebrew  usage  ;  see  Green,  §  287,  3.  WH  in  the 
parenthetical  clause  is  the  copula  (Green,  §  258,  2) 
und   not  the  predicate,  as  Koehler  asserts.     It  is 

conformed  in  gender  to  HnS,  which  it  represents. 

It  is  natural  to  assume  that  "VtV  preserves  here  its 
usual  sense  :  yet,  again,  more.    Koehler,  however, 


takes  it  to  mean  :  henceforth,  in  the  future,  ana 
the  whole  sentence  as  announcing  that  from  this 
time  forward  the  world  would  be  shaken  once,  and 
only  once.  This  he  does  not  rest  upon  linguistic 
grounds,  referring,  as  he  does,  to  2  Sam.  xix.  36 ; 
2  Chron.  xvii.  6,  only  to  show  that  the  meaning 
proposed  is  admissible.  Now,  without  maintain- 
ing the  untenable  position  (as  we  think  it)  of  Keil, 
that  Ti57  always  retains  its  primary  sense  of  rep- 
etition or  return,  it  is  yet  undeniable  that  it  inva- 
riably preserves  such  a  force  when  connected  with 
a  temporal  term  or  phrase,  such  as  nnS  has  been 
shown  to  be  in  our  passage.  Koehler  bases  his 
opinion  upon  the  notion  that  repetition  cannot  be 
implied  here,  because  no  such  commotions  of  na- 
ture as  are  here  predicted  had  ever  occurred  before 
this  time,  not  even  during  the  delivery  of  the  Law 
at  Sinai,  which  is  usually  supposed  to  be  alluded 
to  in  the  passage.  In  disproving  this  statement 
there  is  no  necessity  of  referring  to  the  sense  of  T137 
as  understood  by  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  (ch.  xii.  26,  27)  or  even  to  the  inference 
which  he  draws  from  the  words  "once  more  "  of 
our  Prophet ;  for  there  we  have  simply  the  author- 
ity of  the  LXX.,  which  is  quoted  and  applied  after 
the  custom  of  the  New  Testament  writers.  We 
may,  however,  cite  the  opinion  of  that  inspired 
Writer,  that  it  was  the  shaking  of  Sinai  that  the 
Prophet  had  in  mind  —  an  opinion  evidently  held 
without  the  least  reference  to  the  interpretation  of 

mjb$  "T137>  one,  in  fact,  assumed  by  him  as  un- 
questioned. This  any  one  will  perceive  on  even 
the  most  superficial  examination  of  the  passage 
Heb.  xii.  18-29.  Koehler  asserts  that  the  shaking 
of  Sinai  cannot  be  alluded  to  here,  because  the 
commotions  here  foretold  were  to  affect  all  nature, 
while  the  descriptions  of  the  giving  of  the  Law  do 
not  refer  to  any  disturbance  beyond  the  Sinai  tic 
region.  But  such  passages  as  Judges  v.  4,  5  ;  Ps. 
lxviii.  8.  9  ;  Hab.  iii.  6,  represent  all  nature  as  hav- 
ing been  then  moved  at  the  coming  of  God.  If  it 
should  be  urged  that  such  poetical  conceptions  are 
largely  figurative,  it  may  be  replied  that  the  con- 
vulsions here  alluded  to  are  themselves  largely  fig- 
urative, as  will  be  presently  shown.  The  force  of 
the  Prophet's  allusion  to  the  phenomena  at  Sinai 
we  conceive  to  be  this  :  He  is  now  holding  out  to 
the  faith  of  his  desponding  people  the  prospect  of 
a  new  era,  which  was  to  be  prefigured  by  their 
present  Temple.  The  former  dispensation,  out  of 
which  they  were  soon  to  pass,  and  of  which  the 
former  Temple  was  the  symbol  and  crown,  had 
been  announced  and  prepared  by  the  shaking  of 
Sinai  and  the  other  wonders  wrought  in  the  realm 
of  nature  during  the  disciplinary  experience  of 
their  fathers  previous  to  their  entrance  iuto  the 
Promised  Land.  This  second,  final  dispensation 
was  also  to  be  ushered  in  by  shakings  and  convul- 
sions. These,  in  accordance  with  the  more  spiritual 
character  of  the  new  era,  were  to  occur  not  so  much 
in  the  physical  as  in  the  moral  sphere,  the  former 
class,  however,  not  to  be  excluded.  In  accordance 
with  the  wider  enjoyment  of  the  new  economy,  its 
portents,  so  far  as  they  were  to  occur  in  the  exter- 
nal world,  would  affect  all  nature,  so  far  as  they 
were  to  affect  human  thought  and  action,  were  to 
affect  all  nations.  It  remains  to  be  seen  how  thi» 
universal  shaking  is  effected.  That  the  words 
I  will  be  shaking  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
and  the  sea  and  the  dry  land,  have  chiefly  a  fig- 
urative application,  becomes  clear  from  a  compari 
son  with  such  passages  as  Ps.  lx.  2;  xviii.  7-15 


CHAPTER  II.    1-9. 


17 


Is.  xiii.  13;  lxiv.  1-3,  where  God's  judgments  are 
represented  under  images  drawn  from  the  phenom- 
ena of  nature  ;  also  from  others  such  as  Is.  lxv.  17 
(eomp  Ixvi  22,  and  with  tins  the  words  "once  more'' 
in  our  verse),  in  which,  as  the  context  shows,  the 
blessed  results  upon  humanity  are  compared  to  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  We  do  not  even 
need  to  go  beyond  our  own  book  for  illustration. 
In  ch.  ii.  21  we  have  expressions  similar  to  those 
here  employed,  which  must  have  largely  a  figura- 
tive significance,  since  the  overthrow  of  the  sur- 
rounding nations  was  all  that  the  convulsions 
there  predicted  were  to  accomplish,  as  our  exegesis 
of  the  passage  will  show.  The  various  depart- 
ments of  nature  are  particularized  so  as  to  present 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  universal  commotions  and  of 
the  consequent  transformation  of  the  world.  The 
prediction  has  its  literal  fulfillment  also,  in  so  far 
as  remarkable  natural  phenomena  have  a  porten- 
tous significance,  in  the  divine  dealings  with  man, 
—  a  truth  recognized  both  by  the  Scriptures  and 
by  profane  writers.  We  must  remember,  however, 
that  the  representation  is  here  of  a  very  general 
nature.  With  these  conclusions  in  view  it  will 
appear  that  vers.  6,  7  describe  the  working  of  God 
with  its  resulting  marvelous  change  in  the  aspect 
of  the  world  in  general,  and  more  especially  in  its 
influence  upon  mankind  nationally  and  individ- 
ually,1 preparing  them  for  the  universal  reception 
of  the  blessings  of  the  promised  epoch.  The  allu- 
sion must  therefore  be  to  all  movements  in  the 
history  of  humanity,  either  before  or  since  the 
coming  of  Christ,  which  have  disposed  men  to 
own  Christ  as  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  And  of 
these  it  is  most  natural  to  consider  as  more  imme- 
diately intended,  those  various  political  convul- 
sions which  changed  the  aspect  of  the  civilized 
world  and  adjusted  the  nations  for  the  ready  recep- 
tion and  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel  —  the  conquests 
of  Alexander,  and  the  wars  of  his  successors,  with 
their  tendency  to  combine  and  equalize  the  nations 
involved,  and  to  weaken  the  spirit  of  national  ex- 
clusiveness,  to  promote  mutual  intercourse  through 
the  medium  of  a  common  language,  in  which  at 
first  the  Old  Testament  and  at  last  the  New  were 
given  to  the  world  ;  followed  by  the  gradual  but 
irresistible  progress  of  Roman  supremacy  uniting 
the  East  and  the  West,  and  resulting,  on  the  one 
hand,  in  the  decline  of  paganism  or  national  re- 
ligion, and  on  the  other,  in  the  prevalence  of  a 
long  and  universal  peace,  so  favorable  to  the 
spread  of  the  religion  of  mankind.  —  Such  was  the 
immediate  fulfillment  of  the  prediction.  But  we 
are  not  warranted  in  stopping  here.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  true  interpretation  of  the  second 
clause  of  ver.  7  (to  be  given  presently),  we  must 
regard  the  convulsions  as  coextensive  with  their 
influence.  All  nations  were  to  contribute  to  the 
glory  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  whatever  exer- 
cise of  the  divine  power  in  the  external  world  or 
in  the  spiritual  sphere,  should  dispose  man  to  the 
service  of  Jehovah,  must  be  included  in  that  mov- 
ing of  the  world  which  should  lead  to  its  trans- 
formation. Hence  we  need  not  restrict  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prediction  to  the  political  changes 
which  prepared  the  way  for  the  reception  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  has  usually  been  done,  but  may  behold 
it  also  in  those  subsequent  events  in  the  world's 
history,  political,  social,  or  moral,  which  have 
■ubserved  (and  never  more  conspicuously  than  in 

l  Nations  are  named  here  in  accordance  with  the 
guarded  and  partial  representation  of  the  salvation  of  the 
Gentiles  peculiar  to  the  Old  Testament.  But  individuals 
Me  not  therefore  excluded;   the;   are  rather  plainly  and 


our  own  day)  the  growth  and  glory  of  the  Cliurch 
of  Christ.  We  may  even  admit  the  partial  cor- 
rectness of  Calvin's  explanation,  that  the  shaking 
denotes  that  marvelous  supernatural  and  violent 
impulse  by  which  God  compels  his  people  to  betake 
themselves  to  the  fold  of  Christ.  The  view  of 
Hengstenberg  and  Keil,  at  all  events,  is  beside  the 
mark,  who  suppose  that  the  shaking  of  the  nations 
is  intended  to  set  forth  the  punitive  judgments  of 
God  upon  the  heathen,  as  leading  them  to  submit 
themselves  to  his  rule.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was 
not,  to  any  great  extent,  the  judgments  of  God 
that  led  the  heathen  to  accept  the  Gospel.  When, 
therefore,  Hengstenberg  attempts  to  apply  his  the- 
ory to  the  preparation  for  Christ's  coming,  he  natu- 
rally fails.  Appeal  is  made  to  vers.  21-23,  where 
a  shaking  of  heaven  and  earth  is  predicted  in  con- 
nection with  the  overthrow  of  surrounding  nations. 
But  the  passages  are  not  parallel.  Vers.  21-23 
are  not  in  the  strict  sense  Messianic  ;  our  passage 
is.  The  subject  there  is  the  opposition  between 
the  heathen  and  God's  people;  and  no  hint  is 
given  of  the  conversion  of  the  former.  The  sub- 
ject here  is  the  honor  to  be  put  upon  the  Church 
of  Christ  (represented  by  the  Second  Temple)  by 
its  reception  of  worshippers  from  all  nations.  The 
notion  of  the  punishment  of  the  heathen  is  remote 
from  the  idea  of  the  promise  and  irrelevant  to  the 
discourse  as  a  whole. 

The  consequence  of  this  divine  influence  upon 
mankind  is  next  given  :   D^Hn-  7D  .TH^n  ^S^ 

But  what  is  meant  by  D^inn  rnari  "  The  ren- 
dering of  the  E.  V. :  The  desire  of  all  nations,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  Messiah  is  referred  to  as  the 
object  that  should  satisfy  the  universal  longings 
of  men,  has  always  been  a  favorite  interpretation. 
The  translation  of  the  Vulgate  was  :  "  et  venit 
desideratus  cunctis  gentibus,"  and  this  was  followed 
by  the  Reformers  (except  Calvin),  by  the  older 
orthodox  Commentators  generally,  and  among 
English  Expositors,  last  by  Fausset.  So  confi- 
dently has  their  opinion  been  held,  that  Ribera 
suspected  the  later  Jews  of  having  corrupted  the 
passage    by  changing  a   singular   verb   into    the 

plural  (:lS2'i),  with  the  design  of  throwing  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  the  true  interpretation.  It 
has  been  accepted  so  widely  by  the  Christian 
Church  through  the  influence  of  the  various  Ver- 
sions that  it  is  still  everywhere  daily  heard  in  their 
hymns  and  prayers.  It  is  natural,  moreover,  that 
many  should  have  been  unwilling  to  give  up  a 
prediction  which  seemed  to  embody  such  a  great 
and  inspiring  truth.  But  such  an  interpretation 
cannot  stand  the  test  of  correct  criticism.  In  the 
first  place,  we  must  have  regard  to  the  aim  of  the 
discourse,  the  encouragement  of  the  people  in 
building  the  Temple,  by  assuring  them  that  its 
glory  would  yet  be  great.  This  object  would  not 
have  been  subserved  by  foretelling  the  coming  of 
a  Person  for  whom  all  the  Gentiles  were  longing. 
Such  a  promise  would  give  no  special  comfort  to 
the  Jews.  The  only  reason  why  the  "  nations  " 1 
were  referred  to  must  have  been  that  they  them- 
selves would  contribute  to  the  future  glory.  Sec- 
ondly, it  is  impossible  to  see  what  connection  the 
silver  and  the  gold  of  ver.  8  can  have  with  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah,  though  that  verse  is  evi- 
dently  introduced  as  confirmatory  of  this.     But, 

specially  regarded ;  for  the  constraining  force  is  ultimately 
not  outward  compulsion,  but  the  influence  of  ths  Spirit 
upon  the  heart,  as  the  discourse  itself  implies 


18 


HAGGAI 


finally,  the  view  in  question  is  untenable  gram- 

matically.  •'W-p  is  plural,  while  its  subject  j"VNj?n 
is  singular,  'l'hat  subject,  therefore,  cannot  be  a 
person.  It  is  impossible  to  evade  the  force  of  this 
argument ;  and  when  we  discover  that  such  ex- 
pedients have  been  adopted  as  to  assume  that 
Christ's  two  Natures  are  referred  to,  the  hopeless- 
ness of  the  attempt  becomes  evident.  It  has  in- 
deed been  urged  that  when  a  plural  noun  depends 
upon  and  follows  a  singular,  the  verb  may  in  He- 
brew agree  with  the  plural.  This  is  true  in  cer- 
tain cases,  namely,  when  the  predicate  may  nat- 
urally be  referred  to  the  governed  word  as  con- 
taining the  controlling  idea  of  the  sentence  (comp. 
Green,  §  277).  This  is  of  course  not  the  case  here. 
It  is  not  the  nations  themselves  who  are  repre- 
sented as  coming,  but  their  i"TTOri.  More  admis- 
sible grammatically  is  the  modification  proposed 
by  Cocceius,  who  translates  :  I  will  shake  all  na- 
tions, that  they  may  come  to  the  desire  of  all  na- 
tions." But  the  first  argument  adduced  against 
the  preceding  view  is  decisive  also  against  this. 

It  only  remains  that  we  take  Hjipri  as  a  collec- 
tive, —  which  its  originally  abstract  sense  renders 
natural,  and  as  the  plural  verb  demands.1  The 
true  sense  of  niDIl  here  may  be  readily  deduced 
from  the  usage  of  its  primitive  "t£2n :  to  desire, 
to  take  delight  in.  The  derivation  means,  first, 
the  emotion  of  pleasure,  and  next,  an  object  of  de- 
sire or  delight  (1  Sam.  ix.  20;  Dan.  xi.  37).  We 
have  now  only  to  decide  whether  it  relates  to  per- 
sons or  to  things.  The  former  sense  with  the  ex- 
planation :  what  is  valuable  or  worthy  among  the 
heathen  —  j.  e.,  the  best  of  the  Gentiles  —  has  been 
adopted  by  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  Cappellus, 
Riickert,  Hitzig,  Umbreit,  and  Fiirst  (in  his  Wor- 
terbuch).  But  here,  also,  all  connection  with  ver. 
8  fails  us.  The  only  meaning  which  satisfies  all 
the  conditions  of  the  passage  is :  the  desirable 
things  of  the  nations ;  not :  the  things  desired  by 
the  nations  realized  in  the  blessings  of  the  Mes- 
siah's reign,  as  Henderson  holds,  —  an  explanation 
which  like  those  previously  noticed  should  be  dis- 
carded because  of  its  want  of  connection  with  the 
context,  and  its  irrelevancy  to  the  discourse  as  a 
whole.  We  accordingly  translate :  the  desirable 
or  precious  things,  the  treasures  of  the  nations,  as 
most  of  the  later  Commentators  have  done.  So 
the  LXX.  appear  to  have  understood  it  (fj|et  rd 
e'(cAe«To  ttolvtov  tuv  4dva>v,  not  ^|ouffi,  not  persons 
but  things).  Their  explanation  was  adopted  in 
the  Itala  and  Vulgate,  and  by  Kimchi,  and  was 
completely  established  by  Calvin,  the  most  judi- 
cious and  penetrating  of  Commentators.  Since 
the  Reformation  it  has  been  held,  among  others  by 
Drusius  and  Vitringa,  by  Rosenmiiller,  Maurer, 
Hengstenberg,  Hofmann,  Koehler,  Keil,  Ewald,'2 
and  among  English  Expositors,  by  Adam  Clarke, 
Newcome,  Noyes,  Moore,  and  Cowles.  Hengsten- 
berg, indeed,  followed   by  Moore,  assumes  unten- 

1  Even  in  Ps.  cxlx.  103  (he  subject  Is  collective  ;  in  Jer. 
xi.  84  it  is  distributive. 

2  Ewald,  who  formerly  (in  his  Gomm.j  maintained  that 
the  "choice  (persons)  "  of  the  Gentiles  were  meant  (see 
above),  now  seems  to  agree  with  this  opinion.  In  his 
Sprachiehre  (§  317  b),  he  explains  the  word  by  Kostbarkeiten. 

3  Compare  for  the  idea  of  glory  imparted  by  material 
treasures,  Nahum  ii.  10  (9). 

4  It  has  been  said  that  Herod  really  erected  a  third 
Itonple  instead  of  repairing  the  second.  But  this  mode  of 
UB*essiOD   shows   a  want   of  perception   of  the  divine  and 


ably  that  ~?P.T  properly  means  beauty,  but  bott 
writers  adopt  the  usual  explanation  in  their  ex- 
position. From  whatever  stand-point  we  regard 
this  interpretation,  its  correctness  becomes  appar 
ent.  Grammatically  it  is  unassailable.  If  we  re 
vert  to  the  occasion  of  the  discourse,  we  find  that 
it  contains  the  very  ground  of  encouragement 
which  the  desponding  people  required.  They  had 
no  need  to  be  disheartened  because  of  the  present 
condition  of  the  Temple.  The  outward  adorn- 
ments which  had  rendered  the  former  structure  so 
attractive  were  indeed  absent,  but  these  would  be 
more  than  surpassed  in  splendor  by  the  precious 
gifts  which  all  nations  should  yet  bring,  to  make 
glorious  Jehovah's  dwelling-place.  If  we  regard 
the  immediate  context,  the  interpretation  becomes 
self-evident.  The  display  of  the  precious  metals 
in  the  first  Temple  was  mournfully  remembered 
by  the  people  in  their  poverty.  But  the  silver  and 
gold  of  the  whole  earth  were  God's,  much  more 
glorious  would  be  that  Temple  which  should  be 
adorned  by  the  treasures  of  all  nations  which  He 
should  dispose  to  his  worship  and  service. 

We  have  next  to  inquire  into  the  fulfillment  of 
this  remarkable  prediction.  And  the  question  first 
suggests  itself :  is  the  promise  to  be  fulfilled  in  a 
literal  or  in  a  figurative  sense,  or  in  both  ?  The 
answer  will  throw  additional  light  also  upon  the 
concluding  words  of  ver.  7  :  I  will  fill  this  house 
with  glory.3  Let  us  now  see  to  what  extent  the 
Gentiles  did  bring  of  their  treasures  to  the  sec- 
ond Temple.  The  command  of  Darius  Hystaspes, 
given  soon  after,  that  abundant  supplies  should  be 
allowed  the  Jews  to  forward  their  labors,  cannot 
properly  come  into  consideration  here,  because  it 
was  not  a  consequence  of  any  such  shaking  of  the 
nations  as  that  just  predicted.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  the  presents  of  Artaxerxes  Longimanus 
and  his  councillors  through  Ezra.  We  must  look 
beyond  the  mighty  political  convulsions  of  the 
age  of  Alexander  and  his  successors,  in  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  shaking  of  the  nations  first  ac- 
tually began.  And  here,  as  Calvin  has  shown, 
and  Hengstenberg  more  fully,  the  renewal  of  the 
second  Temple  by  Herod  must  be  excluded  from 
consideration.  Herod  was  a  foreigner,  it  is  true, 
but  his  labors  were  not  prompted  by  reverence  for 
Jehovah,  but  by  worldly  policy.4  But  the  case  was 
different  with  the  offerings  of  those  proselytes 
who,  in  the  decline  of  polytheism  sought  to  sat- 
isfy their  religious  aspirations  by  paying  their 
homage  to  the  one  true  God  in  his  Temple.  These 
gifts,  however,  were  little  more  than  a  pledge  of 
the  higher,  more  glorious  fulfillment.  Otherwise 
the  prophecy  would  have  remained  unfulfilled. 
The  Temple  (in  its  true  idea  and  divine  purpose) 
must  be  merged  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  the 
offerings  of  whose  worshippers  must  have  that 
predominantly  spiritual  character  which  should 
mark  the  Messianic  times.  (1.)  Because  the  pre- 
diction is  given  as  a  revelation  from  God.  Its  ful- 
fillment is  certain.6    A  literal  fulfillment  has  been 

prophetic  idea  of  the  institution.  Herod's  Temple  mint 
still  be  regarded  as  the  second,  even  though  it  be  conceded 
that  he  erected  a  new  structure.  A  new  Temple  must  in- 
troduce a  new  era. 

6  Some  of  the  Jewish  Comnrentators  would  not  readily 
agree  with  this.  Philippson  (Israeli tische  Bibel,  ii.  1489), 
after  showing  that  Herod's  Temple,  which  he  rightly  re- 
fuses to  regard  as  a  third  Temple,  was  with  all  its  splendor 
still  inferior  to  Solomon's,  and  after  admitting  that  ver.  7, 
which  he  renders  correctly,  has  not  been  literally  fulfilled, 
remarks  as  follows  :  "  The  Prophets  give  promises  for  "ta« 


CHAPTER   II.   1-9. 


19 


shiwn  to  be  untenable;  we  have  therefore  to  seek 
a  spiritual  one.  (2.)  This  promise  is  but  one  of  a 
large  class  of  similar  predictions  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment whose  spiritual  realization  is  assured  by  the 
New.  Comp.  Is.  lx.  5,  9-11  ;  Micah  x.  13  ;  Zech. 
xiv.  14,  with  Rev.  xxi.  24-26.  The  harmony  and 
connection  of  our  passage  with  these  is  convin- 
cing. (3.)  After  the  restoration  the  outward  splen- 
dor of  the  Temple  was  never  a  matter  of  Divine 
cognizance.  The  rebukes  of  the  prophets  directed 
against  the  people  were  not  due  to  any  failure 
on  their  part  to  enhance  its  external  glory.  In- 
deed we  have  good  reason  to  think  that  they  were 
encouraged  to  make  this  of  little  account.  It  is 
at  least  certain  that  the  spirit  cherished  by  the 
Jews,  which  ultimately  led  to  their  rejection,  and 
to  the  destruction  of  the  Temp'e,  was  tlu  senti- 
ment that  found  expression  in  the  reverence  for 
the  gold  of  the  Temple,  which  called  forth  so 
scathing  a  denunciation  from  the  lips  of  Jesus, 
and  that,  in  his  refusal  to  admire  the  grandeur  of 
that  structure,  He  was  moved  by  something  more 
than  the  mere  prevision  of  its  coming  ruin,  that 
He  recognized  in  that  terrible  calamity  the  divine- 
ly just  result  of  the  loss  of  spiritual  worship  which 
universally  prevailed.  And  if  the  failure  to  dis- 
cern that  the  Temple  was  only  the  embodiment 
and  symbol  of  spiritual  truths  marked  the  decline 
and  fall  of  Judaism,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
Church  of  God,  the  true  Temple  beneath  the 
gold,  and  outward  adornings,  should  without  los- 
ing its  identity,  divest  itself  of  external  form,  to 
invite  and  receive  spiritual  worshippers  from  all 
nations.  Upon  these  grounds  we  claim  the  fitness 
and  necessity  of  a  spiritual  fulfillment  of  this  pre- 
diction. What  the  treasures  are  which  all  nations 
were  to  bring  to  the  Church  of  God  is  not  far  to 
seek.  All  material  offerings  presented  since  the 
establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  advancing  its  extension  or  inward  growth, 
are  of  course  included.  But  the  offerings  of  the 
heart  —  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  multitudes 
that  throng  more  and  more  about  the  gates  of 
Zion,  as  the  nations  are  shaken  more  and  more  by 
forces  of  the  Spirit's  moving,  and  their  self-re- 
nouncing devotion  of  soul  and  life  to  her  service, 
—  mainly  constitute  the  perpetual  and  progressive 
fulfillment  of  the  prediction.  And  in  the  presence 
of  God  among  his  adoring  people  we  have  the 
idea  embodied  in  the  ancient  Temple  realized,  and 
the  crowning  promises  of  this  prophecy  fulfilled  : 
I  will  fill  this  House  with  glory  ....  In  this 
place  I  will  give  peace.  It  is  the  presence  of 
Jehovah  that  sheds  glory  upon  the  Church,  his 
Temple  and  dwelling-place,  that  imparts  inward 
peace  and  joy,  and  outward  peace  and  prosperity 

(Dwtt?)  to  its  members  in  ever-increasing  meas- 
ure ;  but  that  Presence  is  vouchsafed  to  meet  and 
reward  the  submission  and  service  of  his  people, 
gathered  from  every  nation  under  heaven. 

There  is  another  important  point  in  connection 
with  this  subject  which  needs  to  be  discussed. 
The  fact  that  all  these  promises  are  applied  direct- 
ly to  "  this  house,"  and  that,  as  the  subject  of 
such  glorious  'predictions  the  second  Temple  is 
sharply  contrasted  with  the  first,  proves  that  there 

future,  not  in  order  to  predict,  but  in  order  to  ameliorate 
the  present  and  to  incite  to  holy  actions.  Israelites  have 
themselves  made  the  fulfillment  of  these  prophecies  impos- 
sible by  refusing  to  rise  to  th03e  higher  conditions  in  which 
alone,  according  to  the  declarations  of  the  Prophets  them- 
selves, the  promises  would  be  fulfilled."  Comp.  p.  922. 
This  is  the  logical  result  of  the  Jewish  theory  ;  for  though 


must  have  been  something  connected  with  tht 
former,  as  compared  with  the  latter,  constituting 
it  a  more  fit  representative  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  This  feature  of  the  discourse  is  worthy 
of  a  much  fuller  treatment  than  is  here  practi- 
cable. We  only  remark  at  present  that  the  car- 
dinal distinction  must  have  consisted  in  the  more 
spiritual  character  which  life,  and  faith,  and  wor- 
ship assumed  in  the  best  times  of  Judaism  after 
the  Restoration,  the  Temple  being  of  course  un- 
derstood to  represent  then,  as  of  old,  the  theocrat- 
ic community  of  which  it  was  the  centre.  Rites 
and  ceremonies  retired  more  into  the  background; 
and  prayer  began  to  assume  its  true  place  in  pub- 
lic worship.  The  religious  knowledge  of  the  peo- 
ple was  kept  up  through  the  regular  public  read- 
ing and  distribution  of  the  Scriptures,  which  were 
early  collected  into  their  present  canonical  form. 
Synagogues  were  established,  the  people  having 
learnt  at  Babylon  that  God's  presence  might  be 
enjoyed  in  their  assemblies  in  any  place  or  circum- 
stances. Thus  there  was  kept  alive  throughout 
the  nation  a  higher  and  purer  type  of  religion 
than  it  had  known  in  the  days  when  the  first 
Temple  with  its  outward  splendor  and  gorgeous 
ritual  excited  the  admiration  of  the  people,  but  toe 
seldom  led  their  thoughts  to  the  contemplation  of 
the  truths  it  expressed  and  prefigured.  These 
we  regard  as  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
second  Temple,  which  on  the  one  hand  exalted  it 
above  its  predecessor,  and  on  the  other  assimilated 
it  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  of  which  it  thus  be- 
came the  fit  representative  in  the  Divine  promises 
This  was  the  true  glory  of  the  Second  Temple. 

The  question  finally  suggests  itself:  If  this  ex 
position  be  correct,  why  were  these  promises  veiled 
in  such  a  material  form  ?  The  same  difficulty 
must  be  equally  felt  in  the  consideration  of  the 
similar  passages  in  the  Prophets  already  cited.  It 
is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  say  that  such  is  the 
uniform  drapery  in  which  prophetic  promise  is 
clothed.  The  answer  which  exhibits  the  inner  fit- 
ness and  necessity  of  the  mode  of  communication, 
is  that  such  a  form  was  the  only  one  suited  to  the 
conditions  under  whicli  the  promise  was  given. 
Its  recipients  would  have  been  dissatisfied  with  the 
full  and  clear  revelation  as  not  meeting  their  im- 
mediate needs,  and  moreover  could  neither  have 
grasped  its  meaning  nor  appreciated  its  worth. 
They  were  not  as  yet  prepared  to  receive  the  doc- 
trine of  an  invisible  Temple  and  a  universal  Church, 
as  the  nations  themselves  were  not  prepared  for 
the  coming  and  reign  of  their  common  Redeemer. 
Hence  it  was  best  that  the  glories  of  his  kingdom 
should  be  described  in  words  suited  to  their  appre 
hensions  and  requirements.  He  also,  when  He 
came,  in  his  predictions  as  well  as  in  his  other  in- 
structions, taught  as  his  hearers  were  able  to  bear 
them.  And  even  we  are  under  the  same  tutelage 
with  respect  t )  the  mysteries  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem ;  for  we  iead  that  it  has  its  Temple  too 
(Rev.  vii.  15),  and  yet  we  are  told  that  it  has  no 
Temple  (Rev.  xxi.  22)  ;  and  the  announcement 
of  the  final  and  complete  fulfillment  of  our  proph- 
ecy (Rev.  xxi.  24-26)  is  little  more  than  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  prophecy  itself  in  a  material  form  iden- 
tically the  same. 

some  of  their  Commentators  (e.  g-.,  Isaaki,  Abarbanel)  in- 
terpret the  passage  as  predicting  a  future  Temple.  ?on)  par- 
ing Ezek.  xliii.  etc.,  yet  as  this  view  is  in  plain  contradic- 
tion of  the  Prophets  announcement  of  speedy  fu. fillmen^ 
others  are,  in  consistency,  driven  to  renounce  the  idea  of 
any  true  fulfillment  whatever. 


20 


rGAI. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  The  only  hope  of  the  Church  of  God  lies  in 
his  favor.  If  at  any  time  it  is  weak  and  languish- 
ing, its  sad  condition  is  directly  due  to  the  with- 
drawal of  God's  presence.  But  his  attitude  to- 
wards his  people  is  not  the  result  of  caprice  or  of 
change  of  purpose.  He  is  bound  to  them  by  a 
Covenant  (ver.  5)  to  which  He  ever  remains  faith- 
ful. It  is  their  unfaithfulness  that  banishes  Him 
from  among  them,  and  a  return  to  obedience  that 
restores  his  favor  and  help.  The  latter  result  is  as 
assured  as  the  former  (comp.  vers.  4,  5,  with  i.  12, 
13).  These  truths  furnish  an  antidote  to  despond- 
ency, and  a  ground  of  confidence  as  well  as  a  mo- 
tive to  renewed  consecration. 

2.  The  World  is  the  tributary,  and  the  minister 
of  the  Church.  All  revolutions,  political,  social,  or 
moral,  that  affect  the  nations,  are  harbingers  and 

[>reparations  of  that  spiritual  and  inward  but  no 
ess  powerful  influence  which  is  to  impel  them 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
And  the  treasures  of  the  nations,  all  that  is  de- 
sirable and  valuable  in  the  achievements  of  human 
labor,  all  the  accumulated  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  the  ages,  and  all  that  is  pure  and  lofty  in 
human  motives  and  purposes,  are  the  offerings 
which  the  world  has  brought,  or  is  yet  to  bring 
to  the  Church  —  "  the  glory  and  honor  of  the  Gen- 
tiles "  presented  in  the  courts  of  Zion  ( Rev.  xxi. 
26). 

3.  The  development  and  progress  of  the  Church 
of  God  are  not  marked  by  an  increase  of  external 
splendor.  Its  true  glory  does  not  consist  in  the 
magnificence  of  its  houses  of  worship,  or  in  the 
pomp  and  impressiveness  of  its  ceremonies  and 
rituals.  The  First  Temple  was  distinguished  by 
these  outward  attractions ;  but  the  Second  Temple 
in  which  they  were  so  inferior,  is  by  the  Prophet 
contrasted  with  the  former,  and  chosen  as  the  fit 
representative,  nay  even  as  the  partial  realization 
of  the  promised  Church  of  Christ.  Christians 
know,  as  the  pious  worshippers  in  the  second 
Temple  were  taught,  that  the  glory  of  the  Church 
is  derived  from  the  purity  of  her  worship,  the  de- 
votion of  her  ever-increasing  members,  and  the 
abiding  presence  of  God  through  his  Spirit.  Even 
the  Shekinah  was  wanting  in  the  second  Temple ; 
but  the  faithful  worshippers  there,  like  those  who 
now  in  every  nation  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  could  rejoice  that  they  did  not  need  among 
them  his  visible  glory,  while  his  presence  was  felt 
in  their  hearts. 


HOMILKTIOAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Ver.  3  (comp.  with  ver.  9).  Long  life  is  a  bless- 
ing and  happiness  to  a  servant  of  God,  if  at  its 
close  he  is  permitted  to  behold  the  revival  of  God's 
kingdom  and  increasing  signs  of  its  coming  glory. 

Vers.  4,  5.  God's  people  should  dwell  much 
upon  their  past  history.     They  will  thus  find  that 


whatever  checks  and  distresses  they  have  experi- 
enced were  due  to  their  own  unfaithfulness,  and 
that  God  never  failed  to  fulfill  his  part  in  the 
Covenant,  whether  He  chastened  or  blessed.  In 
the  adversities  of  the  present  they  may  be  assured 
that  their  true  hope  lies  in  the  presence  and  power 
of  the  Spirit,  who  dwells  with  them  according  as 
they  fulfill  their  part  in  the  Covenant. 

Calvin  :  God  is  present  with  his  own  in  vari- 
ous ways  ;  but  He  especially  shows  that  He  is 
present*  when,  by  his  Spirit,  He  confirms  weak 
minds. 

Vers.  6,  7.  In  the  midst  of  the  changes,  polit- 
ical, social,  and  moral,  that  affect  the  nations,  by 
what  methods  may  God's  people  best  seek  to  at- 
tract them  with  their  priceless  treasures  within  the 
Church  of  Christ  ? 

Henry  :  The  shaking  of  the  nations  is  often  in 
order  to  the  settling  of  the  Church  and  the  estab- 
lishing of  the  things  that  cannot  be  shaken. 

Moore  :  The  kingdoms  of  the  world  are  but 
the  scaffolding  for  God's  spiritual  Temple,  to  be 
thrown  down  when  their  purpose  is  accomplished. 
—  The  uncertainty  and  transitoriness  of  all  that  is 
earthly  should  lead  men  to  seek  repose  in  the  ever- 
lasting kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  —  The 
glory  of  the  New  Testament  dispensation  is  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen. 

Ver.  8.  Since  the  earth  and  its  fullness  are  the 
Lord's,  his  people  need  never  fear  either  that  they 
will  be  left  destitute,  or  that  the  "  riches  of  the 
Gentiles  "  will  not  be  converted  to  the  use  of  his 
Church. 

Henry  :  Every  penny  bears  God's  superscrip- 
tion as  well  as  Caesar's. 

Moore  :  The  comparative  poverty  of  the 
Church  is  not  because  God  cannot  bestow  riches 
upon  her,  but  because  there  are  better  blessings 
than  wealth  that  are  often  incompatible  with  its 
possession. 

Ver.  9.  Calvin  :  Though  they  should  gather 
the  treasures  of  a  thousand  worlds  into  one  mass, 
such  a  glory  would  still  be  perishable. 

Moore  :  The  New  Testament  in  all  its  out- 
ward lowliness  has  a  glory  in  its  possession  of  a 
completed  salvation,  far  above  all  the  outward 
magnificence  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation.  —  The 
kingdom  of  Christ  makes  peace  between  God  and 
man,  and  in  its  ultimate  results  will  make  peace 
between  man  and  man,  and  destroy  all  that  pro- 
duces discord  and  confusion,  war  and  bloodshed 
on  the  earth. 

Pressel  :  Every  house  of  God  is  a  place  where 
God  gives  peace,  and  every  place  of  peace  is  also 
a  house  of  God. 

—  On  the  whole  discourse  :  The  glory  of  God's 
kingdom  :  (1.)  Its  conditions  —  the  faithfulness  of 
his  people  to  all  their  covenant  obligations  and 
duties,  their  obedience,  their  faith,  and  their  cour- 
age, securing  his  favor  and  help.     (2.)  Its  nature 

—  the  constant  reception  of  increasing  multitudes 
of  "  Gentiles  "  with  their  "  treasures  "  of  devotion 
and  service;  and  the  abiding  presence  of  God'i 
Spirit  diffusing  peace  and  joy. 


CHAPTER   II.  10-19. 


21 


FOURTH  ADDRESS. 

Past  Calamities  accounted  for  ;  and  Immediate  Prosperity  announced. 

Chapter  II.  10-19. 

10  On  the  twenty-fourth  (day)  of  the  ninth  (month)  in  the  second  year  of  Darius, 

11  there  was  a  word  of  Jehovah  by  the  hand  of  Haggai  the  Prophet,  saying:  Thus 

12  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  Ask,  I  pray  you,  the  Priests 1  for  instruction,  saying :  If2  a 
man  shall  bear  holy  flesh  in  the  lappet  of  his  garment,  and  touch  with  his  lappet 
upon  bread,  or  upon  pottage,  or  upon  wine,  or  upon  oil,  or  upon  any  food,  shall  it 

13  become  holy  ;  and  the  Priests  answered  and  said :  No.  And  Haggai  said:  If  one 
denied  3  through  a  (dead)  person  touch  any  of  these,  snail  it  be  unclean ;  and  the 

14  Priests  answered  and  said:  It  shall  be  unclean.  Then  Haggai  answered  and  said: 
So  is  this  people,  and  so  is  this  nation  before  me,  saith  Jehovah,  and  so  is  every 
work  of  their  hands ;  and  whatever  they  offer    there  [at    the    altar]   is   unclean. 

15  And  now,  I  pray  you  direct  your  heart  from  this  day  and  backward,  before   the 

16  placing  of  stone  upon  stone  in  the  house  of  Jehovah.  Since  such  things  were,4 
one  has  been  going5  to  a  heap  of  sheaves  of  fifty  (measures),  and  there  were  (but) 
ten  ;  he  has  been  going  to  the  wine-vat  to  draw  out  fifty  pails,  and  there  were  (but) 

17  twenty.     I  have  smitten  you  with  blight,  and  with  mildew,  and  with  hail  —  all  the 

18  works6  of  your  hands;  yet  ye  (returned)7  not  to  me,  saith  Jehovah.  Direct,  I 
pray  you,  your  hearts  from  this  day  and  backward,  from  the  twenty-fourth  day  of 
the  ninth  (month),  to  the  day  on  which  the  Temple  of  Jehovah  was  founded ;  direct 

19  your  heart.  Is  the  grain  yet  in  the  barn  ?  And  as  to  the  vine  and  the  fig  tree, 
and  the  pomegranate  and  olive  tree,  they  have  not  borne.8  From  this  day  I  will 
bless.9 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  11.  —  Ds3n3n"J"1M  U  the  direct  and  miFI  the  indirect  object. 

3  Ver.  12.  —  This  verse  contains  a  sentence  virtually  conditional,  of  which  H7^T|?sn  to  the  apodosto,  and  all  that  pre- 
cedes the  protasis.  But  as  H  is  properly  an  interjection  the  strict  translation  would  be :  Behold,  let  any  one  bear,  etc 
Some  of  the  articles  of  food  here  mentioned  are  made  definite,  being  considered  severally  as  forming  a  distinct  class 
Bee  Green,  §  24.5  </. 

8  Ver.  13.  —  For  the  construction  of  tt?23    Stttp  see  the  exegesis. 

*  Ver.  16.  —  DnvrTQ.    See  Green,  §  267  d,  and  compare  the  exegesis. 

6  Ver.  16.  —  S3  •  •  •  S3  are  used  impersonally  :  one  came,  etc.  These  sentences  are  virtually  conditional,  } 
marking  the  apodosis  in  each  case. 

•  Ver.  17.  —  nt!?5^    '3  HN.    This  clause  is  in  apposition  to  the  object  of  the  verb  in  the  one  preceding. 
T  Ver.  17.  —  D3JHM   I^W.     See  the  exegesis. 

8  Ver   19.  —  SJZ73  agrees  with  the  nearest  subject  and  is  understood  with  the  others. 

»  Ver.  19.  —  7JH3M  is  here  used  absolutely.     There  is  no  need  of  supplying  an  object. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  ministry  of  the  Prophet  had  at  last  achieved 
i*a  most  important  object,  and  with  the  access  of 
new  zeal  and  devotion  to  God's  service  among  the 
people,  a  powerful  impulse  had  been  given  to  their 
national  and  religious  life.  Another  message  was 
now  appropriate,  and  that  for  the  accomplishment 
of  two  ends :  first,  that  the  people  might  be  fore- 
warned against  a  course  of  conduct,  which  would 
again  alienate  the  favor  of  God  ;  second,  that  they 
might  be  further  secured  against  despondency  by 
the  prospect  of  rich  and  speedy  blessings,  as  the 
consequence  of  their  repentance  and  obedience. 


Ver.  10.  The  message  which  follows  was  de- 
livered about  two  months  after  the  preceding,  while 
the  people  were  still  feeling,  probably,  in  an  in- 
tensified degree,  the  pressure  of  the  temporal  dis- 
tress which  was  described  in  the  first  discourse. 
It  was  an  occasion  peculiarly  suitable  for  the  com- 
munication of  such  a  message.  It  was  the  ninth 
month  (Chisleu,  November-December)  when  the 
early  rain  was  expected  to  water  the  newly-sown 
crops.  Their  fields  had  lately  (ch.  i.  6)  been  giv- 
ing a  very  scanty  harvest,  and  there  would  nat- 
urally be  much  anxiety  about  the  results  of  th« 
labor  of  the  present  season  ;  and  great  rejoicing 
at  the  receival  of  an  assurance  of  its' -success. 

Ver.  11.   We  agree  with  Ewald.  Koehler,  KeU, 


22 


HAGGAI 


tt  al.  in  regarding  nniH  here  as  meaning  not 
the  law  but  instruction.  If  the  former  had  been 
intended,  the  article  would  have  been  present. 
That  the  answer  to  the  inquiry  would  be  obtained 
from  the  law  does  not  of  course  affect  the  ques- 
tion. 

Ver.  12.  If  a  man  shall  bear  ....  and  the 
Priests  answered  :  No.  The  priests  answered 
correctly  and  according  to  a  natural  and  divinely 
sanctioned  inference  from  Lev.  vi.  20  (27).  In 
that  passage  the  flesh  of  the  animal  sacrificed  is 

said  to  render  sacred  any  object  ("^E?^    ^3   there 

probably  refers  both  to  persons  and  to  things) 
with  which  it  may  come  in  contact,  a  garment 
sprinkled  with  its  blood  being  particularized.  It 
is  not  said  that  the  character  of  legal  sacredness 
is  communicated  indefinitely.  The  enumeration 
in  our  passage  of  the  most  common  and  necessary 
articles  of  food  is  in  accordance  with  the  lesson  to 
be  enforced  ;  see  on  ver.  14. 

Ver.  13.  And  Haggai  said  ....  he  will  be 
unclean.  Comparing  our  Terse  with  Lev.  xxii.  4; 
and  that  passage  with  Num.  v.  2 ;  ix.  6,  7,  10,  we 

find  that  the  phrase  WZg  S»!5  =  tt"p3b  NEtJ. 

defiled  with  respect  to  a  person.  Comparing  again 

with  Lev.  xxi.  11  ;  Num  vi.  6,  we  find  that  HO 

is  to  be  understood  in  the  latter  expression,  which 
therefore  means  :  unclean  on  account  of  a  dead 
person.  The  ellipsis  is  seen  to  be  natural,  when 
we  remember  that  defilement  occasioned  by  per- 
sonal contact  usually  proceeded  from  contact  with 
a  dead  body,  and  that  this  species  of  defilement 
was  one  of  the  deepest  (see  Num.  xix.  11-16). 
Keil  translates  :  defiled  on  or  through  the  soul  of 
a  dead  man,  a  rendering  whose  correctness  he  fails 
to  prove  both  here  and  in  his  exposition  of  Lev. 
xix.  28.  Besides  giving  a  contradictory  explana- 
tion, he  would  refuse  to  recognize  one  of  the  most 

common  meanings  of  t£?3,  that  of  person  trans- 
ferred to  the  sense  of  body.  The  explanation  of 
Koehler  is  worth  quoting.  He  takes  nephesh  in  its 
primary  sense  of  breath,  and  thinks  that  one  who 
comes  in  contact  with  the  breath  of  a  dead  man  is 
referred  to.  This  he  does  not  seek  to  establish  on 
the  lucus  a  non  lucendo  principle,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, but  by  the  statement  that  "  as  long  as  the 
corpse  is  not  completely  consumed,  even  if  the 
skeleton  only  is  left,  a  remnant  of  the  breath  of 
life  still  remains  seeking  to  extricate  itself  so  as  to 
leave  the  body  to  perish  utterly." — Then  follows  the 
application  to  the  circumstances  of  the  people  of 
these  principles  of  the  Ceremonial  Law.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  the  priests  and  the  prophet  act  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  proper  functions  :  the  former 
declare  or  interpret  the  precepts  of  the  Law  ;  the 
latter  applies  them. 

Ver.  14.  And  Haggai  answered  and  said  .  .  . 
is  unclean.  No  distinction  is  intended  to  be  ex- 
pressed between  "  nation  "  and  "  people  "  here. 
The  repetition  is,  a  hebraism ;  comp.  Zeph.  ii.  9. 
So  is  this  people,  etc.  =  So  is  it  with  this  people. 
Before  me  means :  in  my  presence  as  Ruler  and 
Judge.  The  key  to  the  correct  application  of  the 
ceremonial  precepts,  which  have  occasioned  diffi- 
culty to  some  interpreters,  is  found  in   the   last 

clause  of  the  verse,  taking  into  account  that  Ett? 

t=  at  the  altar  (Ezra  iii.  3).  The  people,  suffering 
from  scarcity  of  food  consequent  upon  the  failure 
of  their  crops,  had,  it  seems,  been  continuing  in 


some  measure  their  regular  sacrificial  offerings 
though  they  had  been  neglecting  the  building  of 
the  Temple.  These  oblations  had  not  been  ac- 
cepted, as  they  might  have  inferred  from  the  with- 
holding of  the  divine  blessing,  the  true  cause  of 
which  is  now  impressively  illustrated.  As  he  who 
was  ceremonially  unclean  tainted  everything  with 
which  he  came  in  contact,  so  had  they,  suffering 
from  God's  displeasure  on  account  of  their  disre- 
gard of  his  claims,  communicated  the  effects  of 
that  displeasure  to  all  the  labor  of  their  hands, 
which  profited  them  nothing.  And,  as  the  conse- 
crated flesh  of  the  sacrifices  did  not  convey  its  sa- 
credness to  any  objects  beyond  those  immediately 
in  the  service,  so  all  their  external  good  works, 
even  their  offerings  upon  God's  altar,  could  not 
reach  in  its  effects  beyond  the  mere  ceremonial 
fulfillment  of  outward  observances,  could  not  pa- 
cure  those  blessings  which  are  the  reward  of  living, 
operative  holiness.  The  following  verses  (15-17) 
now  exhibit  the  condition  of  the  people  as  prov- 
ing the  above  illustration. 

Ver.  1 5.  And  now  apply  your  heart,  I  pray 
you  .  .  .  apply  your  heart.  The  people  are 
bidden  review  their  condition  from  the  present 
time  to  the  period  preceding  the  resumption  of 

the  Temple,  •>  737J3  in  such  a  connection  of 
course  means  backward.  The  time  when  the 
work  was  resumed  is  specified  here,  because  it  was 
the  turning-point  in  their  fortunes.  Their  con- 
dition before  that  event  is  recalled  for  their  con- 
templation that  they  might  connect  their  distress 
then  suffered  with  their  unfaithfulness  ;  and  the 
brief  period  succeeding  their  return  to  obedience 
is  included  because  they  could  not  so  soon  recover 
from  their  embarrassments,  no  harvest  having  yet 

intervened.     C^IT5^    therefore   serves   a    twofold 

purpose  :  ?E  (from)  denotes  that  the  retrospect 
should  properly  begin  with  the  resumption  of  the 

work,  and  ETJtrf  (before)  indicates  the  direction  in 
which  the  survey  should  extend.  That  it  is  the 
resumption  of  building  that  is  referred  to,  and  not 
the  first  feeble  efforts  of  the  returning  exiles,  is 
plain  from  the  circumstances  of  the  people  to  be 
described  and  the  lesson  to  be  enforced. 

Ver.  15.    Since  such  things  were  ....  and 

there  were  (but)  twenty.  OHVno,  literally: 
from  these  things  being  (so).  This  means,  from 
the  time  when  affairs  began  to  be  in  the  condition 

referra1  to.  It  is  clear  that  1^?  need  not  have  the 
same  reference  here  as  in  ver.  15,  where  it  points 
backward.  Here  the  people  are  not  commanded 
to  take  a  review  of  the  past;  the  Prophet  is  now 
describing  a  certain  state  of  affairs  consequent 
upon  their  unfaithfulness.  There  it  was  a  retro- 
spect ;  here  it  is  a  view  of  cause  and  effect.  The 
force  of  the  verse  is  precisely  that  of  ch.  i.  9.  The 
harvests  did  not  fulfill  expectation.  Their  actual 
yield  did  not  even  correspond  to  the  appearance 
of  the  crops  when  gathered  in.  A  heap  of  sheaves 
which  seemed  to  contain  twenty  measures  (it  is 

best  to  supply  HStP,  as  E.  V.  does),  was,  when 
threshed,  found  to  contain  but  ten.  A  quantity 
of  grapes  usually  affording  fifty  purahs  yields  only 
twenty.  2p^  is  applied  either  to  the  press  itself, 
or  to  the  vat  beneath  into  which  the  liquor  flows. 
Here  the  latter  is  meant ;  after  pressing,  they  went 
to  draw  from  it,  expecting  the  usual  proportion 

of  wine,     FT^IS,  which  ia    "s.  lxiii.  8  means  a 


CHAPTER  II.   10-19. 


23 


wine-press,  must  be  used  here  of  the  vessel  which 
was  ordinarilv  employed  to  draw  up  the  wine  from 
the  lower  receptacle.  It  naturally  came  to  be 
adopted  as  a  convenient  measure  for  such  pur- 
poses, much  in  the  same  way  as  our  "  bucket  "  is 
sometimes  referred  to  as  a  measure.     The  LXX. 

translating  fierpriT^s  make  it  =  H2  (a bath).  Such 
an  ellipsis  as  E.  V.  assumes  to  exist  in  the  orig- 
inal is  incredible. 

Ver.  17.  I  have  smitten  you  with  blight  .  .  . 
saith  Jehovah.  The  immediate  cause  of  the 
shortness  and  inferior  quality  of  the  crops  is  now 
presented.  On  the  connection  between  the  first 
and  second  clauses,  see  Grammatical  note.  The 
people  themselves  are  said  to  have  been  smitten, 
because  the  calamities  specified  fell  upon  their 
crops,  the  labor  of  their  hands  (comp.  Virgil's 
boumque  labores),  thus  disappointing  their  nearest 
hopes.  Compare,  as  exactly  analogous,  ch.  i.  10, 
11.  These  passages  further  show  that  there  is  no 
need  of  rendering  with  E.  V. :  in  all  the  labor  of 
your  hands.     The  last  clause  is  difficult.     Most 

take  D3HS  as  a  nominative,  and  supply  DJjOQ? 
(ye  have  not  returned)  after  Amos  iv.  9,  the  former 
and  latter  parts  of  which  passage  present  a  resem- 
blance to  our  verse  probably  fortuitous.     But  the 

cases  in  which  HS  accompanies  a  nominative  are 
so  rare  that  such  a  construction  is  not  to  be  as- 
sumed except  under  exegetical  distress.  More 
admissible  is  the  translation  of  the  Vulgate,  Ita- 
la,  Umbreit,  et  al. :  et  non  fuit  in  vobis  qui  reverter- 

etur.  To  obtain  this  *^??£?  is  supplied,  and  C5^W 
read.  It  ought  not  to  be  objected  with  Hitzig  and 
Koehler,  that  HK  does  not  mean  among  or  in,  but 
only  beside  or  with  ;  for  2  Kings  ix.  25  furnishes 
nn  unmistakable  instance  of  the  former  sense.  The 
extent  of  the  change  involved  in  the  Text  is  a  more 
valid  objection.  It  is  better,  with  Maurer,  Hitzig, 
Ewald,  and  Keil,   to  construe   according  to  the 

principle  laid  down  by  Ewald  (§  262  b),  that  V^1 

(properly  the  construct  of  1?M),  being  usually  fol- 
lowed by  a  verbal  suffix,  because  containing  a  ver- 
bal conception  (=  there  is  not),  here  takes  the  sign 
of  the  object  according  to  the  construction  after 
most  verbs.  We  therefore  render  :  but  ye  were  not 
towards  me,  i.  e.,  ye  did  not  return  to  me.  Hos. 
iii.  3,  2  Kings  vi.  11,  afford  examples  of  such  con- 
structions. 

Ver.  18.    Direct,  I  beseech  you,  your  heart 
.  direct  your  heart.     This  verse  has  received 
most    diverse  and  in  some  instances  most  extraor- 
dinary interpretations.     The  main  difficulty  arises 

from  the  peculiar  use  of  ]^?7-  Most  of  the  Eng- 
lish expositors  adopt  the  rendering  of  E.  V.  with- 
out explanation,  or  (as  Newcome)  supply  "  and  " 
instead  of  "  even "  before  "  from,"  in  order  to 
make  the  contradiction  involved  appear  slighter. 
Fausset  thinks  that  the  time  is  to  be  measured 
backward  from  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  ninth 
month,  and  forward  from  the  founding  of  the  Tem- 
ple, or  that  the  same  adverb,  i~l^V  ~»  can  betaken 
in  different  senses  when  connected  with  the  same 
verb,  which  is  absurd.    Indeed,  it  would  seem  very 

improbable  that  i~w37J2  here  should  be  employed 
in  a  sense  different  from  that  in  which  it  occurs  in 
ver.  15,  as  Eichhorn,  Hitzig,  Koehler,  et  al.  as- 
sume that  it  must,  in  making  it  refer  to  the  future. 
If  now  we  could  suppose,  with  the  authors  last 


named,  and  Pressel,  that  the  twenty-fourth  day  of 
the  ninth  month  was  the  day  on  which  the  foun- 
dation was  laid,  all  difficulty  would  vanish.  The 
people  would  again  be  directed  to  review  their  con- 
dition, and  to  contrast  i:  with  the  blessings  which 
they  would  henceforth  receive,  as  described  in  the 
next  verse.  But  the  objections  to  this  are  insu- 
perable :  (1)  The  Temple  was  founded  in  the  sec- 
ond year  of  Cyrus,  fifteen  years  before  (Ezra  iii. 
10)  ;  and  if  we  compare  Ezra  iv.  4  with  iv.  23,  24. 
we  shall  see  that  the  work  upon  it  was  continued, 
however  feebly,  until  within  two  years  of  the  pres- 
ent prophecy,  so  that  the  foundation  could  not 
have  fallen  into  decay.  (2)  Ch.  ii.  3  implies  that 
the  new  structure  had  then  become  somewhat  ad- 
vanced.    If  it  were  absolutely  necessary  to  regard 

'{us  as  =  yo  (from),  we  should  be  driven  to  con- 
clude that  the  text,  as  it  now  stands,  is  corrupt. 
But  the  analogy  of  such  words  as  pirH£)7  (to  a 

distance)  V'lnQ'^S  (to  the  outside),  shows  that 
the  meaning  to  or  until 1  is  not  impossible.  So 
Rosenmiiller,  Maurer,  Ewald,  Moore,  et  al.,  have 
understood  it.  This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a 
somewhat  precarious  resort ;  but  it  seems  the  only 
one  at  all  defensible.  The  sense  thus  obtained  for 
the  whole  verse  is  appropriate.  In  order  to  make 
the  blessings  to  be  announced  in  ver.  19  appear  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  distress  pictured  in  vers.  16, 
17,  the  Prophet  repeats  the  injunction  of  ver.  15, 
but  with  a  longer  range  of  retrospect.  The  whole 
period  back  to  the  time  when  the  foundation  of  the 
Temple  was  laid  in  the  reign  of  Cyrus  was  one  of 
more  or  less  distress  on  account  of  the  unfaithful- 
ness of  the  people  ;  for  between  that  time  and  the 
present  all  the  efforts  that  they  had  made  to  com- 
plete the  work  were  spasmodic  and  feeble. 

Ver.  19.   Is  the  grain  yet  in  the  barn  ...  I 
will  bless.     The  parallelism  and  the  connection 

show  that  37  j'JH  is  to  be  taken  not  in  the  sense  oi 
corn  for  sowing,  but  of  corn  already  raised.  The 
interrogation  is  equal  to  a  strong  negation.  ^1? 
probably  means  here  quoad,  as  to,  in  which  sense  it 
is  of  frequent  occurrence.  Maurer  prefers  to  ren- 
der :  ad  hue,  as  yet,  a  sense  undeniable  in  Job  i.  1 8  ; 
but  there  is  no  necessity  of  assuming  such  a  rare 
usage  here.  The  distress  before  described  is  brought 
nearer  to  the  feelings  of  the  people  by  the  reminder 
that  it  was  still  present.  They  could  then  better 
appreciate  the  worth  of  the  coming  relief.  From 
this  day,  must  be  taken  in  a  somewhat  loose  sense, 
as  denoting  the  beginning  of  that  period  of  bless- 
ing which  was  to  reward  the  obedience  and  devo- 
tion now  displayed  by  the  people.  There  is  thus 
seen  to  be  no  inconsistency  between  the  promise 
and  the  conditions  described  in  ver.  15. 


DOCTRINAL   AND   ETHICAL. 

1.  The  ceremonial  institutes  of  the  ancient  Law 
were  designed  to  illustrate  man's  relations  to  God 
as  being  under  his  favor  or  under  his  displeasure. 
The  conditions  and  treatment  of  uncleanness, 
while  setting  forth  most  vividly  the  loathsomeness 
and  defilement  of  sin,  exhibited  as  clearly  the  ef- 
fects of  God's  anger  against  it,  which  was  shown 
to  extend  to  all  the  sinner's  experience,  removing 

1  ^u  is  not  therefore  pleonastic  ;  it  still  marks  the  lim- 
its of  the  period  specified,  separating  it  from  the  precedlnj 
according  to  its  original  force. 


24 


HAGGAI. 


him  beyond  the  reach  of  covenant  mercies  and 
blessings.  While  the  divine  displeasure  was  man- 
ifested towards  an  individual  or  a  nation,  no 
amount  of  outward  religious  observances  could 
appease  it,  just  as  no  frequency  of  contact  with 
legally  consecrated  offerings  could  impart  sacred- 
ness  to  any  other  object. 

2.  A  return  to  God  by  his  people  under  either 
Covenant  has  always  been  followed  immediately 
by  the  bestowal  of  blessings  peculiar  to  the  Cov- 
enant. In  Old  Testament  times  a  fullness  of  ex- 
ternal mercies  was  chiefly  expected  and  received. 
But  before  these  blessings  could,  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  providence,  be  vouchsafed,  spiritual  and 
higher  blessings  were  invariably  imparted  (see  ver. 
19) — the  assurance  of  God's  favor,  the  abiding 
presence  and  assistance  of  his  Spirit.  The  New 
Covenant,  while  it  has  modified  in  form  many  of 
the  provisions  and  conditions  of  the  Old,  is  not 
superior  to  it  in  the  certainty  of  its  fulfillment ; 
and  nothing  is  better  adapted  to  revive  and 
strengthen  our  trust  in  God's  promises  than  a  fre- 
quent recurrence  to  his  dealings  towards  his  an- 
cient people. 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Vera.  12-14.   Our  inward  character,  and  not  our 


privileges  or  associations  or  outward  conduct,  wil' 
determine  God's  attitude  toward  us. 

Calvin  :  Whoever  intrudes  external  ceremo- 
nies on  God,  in  order  to  pacify  Him,  trifles  with 
Him  most  childishly.  The  fountain  of  good  works 
is  integrity  of  heart,  and  the  purpose  to  obey  God 
and  consecrate  the  life  to  Him.  —  Whatever  we 
touch  is  polluted  by  us,  unless  there  be  purity  of 
heart  to  sanctify  our  works. 

Grotius  :  There  are  many  ways  of  vice,  but 
only  one  of  virtue,  and  that  a  difficult  one. 

Fausset  :  Those  who  are  unclean  before  God 
on  account  of  "  dead  works,"  thereby  render  un- 
clean all  their  services. 

Vers.  15-17.  Matthew  Henry:  When  we 
take  no  care  of  God's  interests  we  cannot  expect 
that  He  will  take  care  of  ours. 

Moore  :  Men  are  inclined  to  assign  any  other 
cause  for  their  sufferings  than  their  sins,  yet  this 
is  usually  the  true  cause.  —  Disappointment  of  our 
hopes  on  earth  should  make  us  lift  our  eyes  to 
heaven  to  learn  the  reason.  — Affliction  will  harden 
the  heart  if  it  be  not  referred  to  God  as  its  author. 

Vers.  18,  19.  Moore  :  Pondering  over  the  past 
is  often  the  best  way  of  providing  for  the  fu- 
ture. 

Fausset  :  From  the  moment  we  unreservedly 
yield  ourselves  up  to  God,  we  may  confidently  cal- 
culate on  his  blessing. 


FIFTH  ADDRESS. 

Reservation  of  the  People  in  the  Convulsions  that  should  destroy  the  surrounding 

Nations. 

Chapter  II.  20-23. 


20 
21 
22 


23 


And  there  was  a  word  of  Jehovah  a  second  time  to  Haggai  on  the  twenty-fourth 
(day)  of  the  month,  saying  :  Speak  to  Zerubbabel,  Governor  of  Judah,  saying : 
I  will  be  shaking1  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ;  And  I  will  overturn  the  throne  of 
the  kingdoms,  and  will  destroy  the  strength  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  nations,  and 
will  overthrow  the  chariot  and  its  riders,  and  the  horses  and  their  riders  shall  sink 
down,  each  by  the  sword  of  his  brother.  In  that  day,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts 
I  will  take  thee,  Zerubbabel,  son  of  Shealtiel,  my  servant,  saith  Jehovah,  and  will 
place  thee  as  a  signet,  for  thee  have  I  chosen,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


1  Vers.  21,22. — The  force  and  construction  of  tZ^V^XS  in  connection  with  the  following  preterites,  are  the  saint 
M  those  of  the  same  word  in  ver.  6  :  I  shall  be  shaking  (a  participle  being  indefinite  as  to  time)  and  (shall)  have  over- 
turned. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

In  order  to  supply  all  that  was  now  needed  to 
strengthen  and  encourage  his  people,  the  Prophet 
delivers,  on  the  same  day,  a  second  message,  pre- 
dicting their  safety  amidst  the  upheavals  of  the  Gen- 
tile world,  and  assuring  them  of  God's  guardian 
care  over  their  rulers  as  a  pledge  of  this  promise. 

Vers.  20-22.  And  there  was  a  word  of  Jeho- 
vah ....  each  by  the  sword  of  his  brother. 
The  shaking  of  the   heavens   and    the  earth  here 


predicted  coincides  to  some  extent  with  that  fore- 
told in  vers.  6  7.  To  establish  the  distinction  that 
does  exist,  we  have  only  to  assume  that  the  com- 
motions to  be  excited  among  the  Gentiles  to  carry 
out  God's  purposes  with  respect  to  the  world  are 
to  be  understood  as  limited  by  the  results  to  be  ac- 
complished. In  the  passage  referred  to,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  ultimate  submission  and  worship  of  the 
world  is  announced  ;  here  we  are  told  of  nothing 
beyond  the  temporal  security  of  the  Jews  (for  how 
long  a  period  is  not  indicated)  amidst  the  mutual 
destruction  of  other  nationalities.    It  is  most  proh 


CHAPTER  II.  20-23. 


25 


*ble  that  the  reference  is  to  wars  in  which  those  I 
countries  were  involved,  with  which  Israel  had) 
been  brought  into  contact,  —  Babylon  (whose  cap- 
tare  and  cruel  treatment  by  Darius  Hystaspes,  after 
rebellion  against  him,  occurred  soon  after  the  de- 
livery of  this  prophecy)  ;  Persia  in  its  conflicts 
with  Scythia,  etc.,  and  especially  with  Greece; 
Syria  in"  its  protracted  wars  with  Egypt.  These 
limitations  seem  to  be  correct:  (1)  because  the 
prophecy  does  not  say  that  the  Jews  would  be  pre- 
served in  contending  against  other  nations,  but 
only  during  the  mutual  contentions  of  the  latter  ; 
(2)  because  we  And  that  the  Jews  did  actually  suc- 
cumb to  the  power  of  the  Gentiles.  The  throne 
of  the  kingdoms  here  means  their  government, 
that  which  binds  men  together  &,s  a  nation  (comp. 
Dan.  vii.  27).  This  is  based  upon  the  strength 
of  the  kingdoms,  which  is  shattered  by  the  de- 
struction of  their  armies.  Every  man  by  the 
sword  of  his  brother,  -asserts  in  a  general  way 
that  the  nations  in  their  wars  would  become  self- 
destructive  as  well  as  mutually  destructive. 

Ver.  23.   In  that  day.    This  expression  denotes, 
according  to  its  usual  prophetic  indefiniteness,  not 
the  period  introduced  by  the  commotions  just  pre- 
dicted, —  a  supposition  tenable  only  by  those  who 
assume  that  by  Zerubbabel  the  Messiah  is  directly 
intended,  —  but  the  period,  of  whatever  duration 
it  should  be,  during  which  the  commotions  should 
continue.    If  the  verses  just  preceding  had  alluded 
to  any  remote  consequences  of  the  conflicts  be- 
tween the  nations,  the  former  explanation  would 
be  admissible.    I  will  place  thee  as  a  signet-ring. 
The  signet-ring  was  held  very  precious,  and  worn 
constantly  by  its  oriental  possessor;  comp.  Song 
of  Sol.  viii.  6 ;  Jer.  xxii.  24.    The  announcement 
thus  conveyed,  that  during  these  convulsions  Jeho- 
vah, who  had  chosen  Zerubbabel  as  his  servant, 
would  take  him  under  his  peculiar  and  special  care, 
is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  and   explained  in 
the  following  way  :  The  Jews,  although  it  was  now 
several  years  since  they  had  returned  from  exile, 
had  been  constituted  a  theocratic  nation,  and  rec- 
ognized as  such  by  God  only  through  the  erection 
of  the  Temple,  which  was  in  fact  the  condition  of 
their  national  existence.    In  the  midst  of  the  con- 
vulsions that  were  to  shake  the  surrounding  na- 
tions, they  would  naturally  feel  themselves  inse- 
cure.   To  anticipate  and  allay  this  anxiety,  it  was 
now  announced  to  them  that  their  government  and 
institutions  would  be  preserved.     For  Zerubbabel, 
though   appointed  by  the  Persian   monarch  who 
was  temporarily  to  be  their  ruler,  was  chosen  by 
Jehovah  also  as  the  representative  of  the  throne 
and  family  (Luke  iii.  27)  of  David,  which  was  to 
stand    secure,  while  the   kingdoms   of  the  earth 
should  fall.     In  this  promise  Zerubbabel  is  fitly 
taken  to  represent  all  the  rulers  of  the  Jews  during 
the  period  within  the  range  of  the  prophecy.     He 
was  the  first  and  the  greatest  of  their  post-exilic 
rulers.    In  a  theocratic  relation  he  was  the  restorer 
of  the  dynasty  of  David.    What  was  promised  to 
him  we  may  regard  as  equally  promised  to  all  the 
faithful  rulers  of  Judaea  who  should  come  after 
him.    They  also  would  be  chosen  of  God  and  the 
objects  of  his  watchful  care,  as  the  guardians  of 
his  people.    This  we  regard  as  the  direct  occasion 
of  the  promise.   It  is  probable,  however,  that  these 
words  were  addressed  to  Zerubbabel  (comp.  Zech. 
iv.  6-10),  partly  to  give  him  encouragement  in  his 
direction  and  supervision  of  the  work  upon  the 
Temple,  and  in  his  efforts  to  mould  and  control 
the  little  community  at  such  a  critical  period  of 

ts  history. 


This  discourse  has  been  regarded  by  most  ortho- 
dox commentators  as  Messianic  in  the  strict  sense, 
namely,  as  gaining  its  full  and  only  adequate  ap- 
plication when  understood  of  the  Messiah  and  his 
kingdom.  It  is  clear,  however,  from  the  foregoing 
exposition,  that  it  is  Messianic  only  in  so  far  as 
the  progress  and  prosperity  of  God's  people  under 
the  Old  Covenant  prefigured  the  triumph  of  the 
Redeemer's  reign.  It  may  be  urged  against  this 
restriction  that  the  address  is  prefaced  (ver.  21 )  by 
an  expression  similar  to  that  by  which  the  MeSsi- 
anic  promises  in  vers.  6-9  were  introduced.  There 
is  this  distinction,  however,  among  others,  between 
the  two  predictions.  In  the  former  the  discourse 
relates  to  the  Temple  as  representing  the  Church 
of  God  in  its  perpetual  and  ever-increasing  glory 
and  as  the  refuge  of  all  nations ;  in  the  latter  we 
have  no  indication  of  a  reference  to  anything  be- 
yond the  preservation  of  the  theocracy  so  long  as 
it  should  suit  the  divine  purposes.  The  shaking 
of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  illustrates  in  both 
cases  the  violent  commotions  among  the  Gentiles 
through  the  divine  power,  but  the  result  in  the  one 
was  to  be  their  ultimate  conversion,  in  the  other 
their  destruction.  Among  Anglo-American  com- 
mentators Henderson  and  Moore  hold  to  the  re 
stricted  and  indirect  Messianic  sense. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  The  destinies  of  nations  and  their  rulers  an 
determined  by  their  relations  to  the  kingdom  of 
God.  When  they  subserve  its  advancement,  they 
are  not  merely  preserved  by  Him,  but  even  become 
the  objects  of  his  special  care  (comp.,  e.  g.,  Is.  xlv. 
1-6).  When  they  cease  to  do  so  they  are  shorn 
of  their  strength  and  fall.  This  is  the  highest  and 
clearest  lesson  of  history,  wriUe  ">  s  plainly  upon 
her  records,  as  upon  the  pages  of  the  Old  Cove- 
nant. 

2.  The  Jewish  nation  formed  no  exception  to 
this  divine  law.  The  only  respect  in  which  it  dif 
fered  from  other  nations  in  this  regard,  was  that 
it  contained  for  a  time  the  Church  of  God.  This 
was  its  glory  and  its  high  trust.  Its  rulers,  when 
faithful  to  the  interests  of  God's  kingdom  com- 
mitted to  their  keeping,  were,  as  his  chosen  minis- 
ters, precious  in  his  sight,  and  the  objects  of  his 
peculiar  care  and  never-failing  help.  Through  the 
administration  of  such  the  nation  prospered.  And 
we  know  as  well  that  it  was  through  the  unfaith- 
fulness of  the  leaders  of  the  Jewish  people,  that 
God's  favor  was  withdrawn  from  the  n  and  they 
were  blotted  out  from  among  the  nati  ras. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Ver.  22.  Do  righteousness  and  tmth  control 
our  national  life  1  If  they  do  not  we  may  expect 
national  dissolution;  perhaps  the  recurrence  of 
fratricidal  war.  , 

Ver.  23.  Are  our  rulers  controlled  in  their  every 
act  by  a  regard  for  righteousness  and  truth  «  If 
they  are,  they  will  be  guarded  and  guided  by  God 
for  the  nation's  prosperity  and  true  glory.  If  they 
are  not,  let  them  remember  the  denunciations  of 
the  prophets  and  of  Christ  himself  against  the  un- 
faithful leaders  of  the  Jews. 

Moore  :  The  best  protection  for  any  nation, 
the  surest  guarantee  for  its  political  existence,  ii 
a  living,  working  Church  in  its  midst. 

Pressel  :  Even  though  we  are  not  royal  signet 
rings,  0  God,  but  only  little  rings  on  tky  eternal 
hand,  how  safely  are  we  guarded  ! 


Date  Due 


